What Was Lost
by AlteaHunt
Summary: Set post Breaking Dawn, we follow Renesmee on a brand new adventure - Twists, Turns and Lemons ensue!
1. Chapter 1

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own the rights to the Twilight series or any of the Twilight characters, this is merely an attempt to prolong a most enjoyable reading experience.**

**Please read and review – I'm always eager to know what people think of my writing.**

I awoke in a strange room and sat up in a bed that creaked when I moved. Sheets were tucked under the little mattress either side of me, restricting my movements. My body felt tired and sore and there was a terrible burning in the back of my throat, _so thirsty _I thought to myself. The light in the room seemed strange somehow and the room itself smelled wrong, astringent scents assaulted my nostrils and I tried to find a description in my jumbled head _disinfectant_ I thought, which was immediately followed by _Hospital_ which was immediately followed by a strange flow of emotion and a beautiful voice that rang like a bell peal in my head "We can't take you to a hospital sweetie, you're very special you know…." The voice faded and I felt a longing that made my heart ache and tears began to stream down my face.

I struggled to get my addled mind to focus as I asked myself questions like where am I? How did I get here? But my brain refused to co-operate, drawing a blank with every question. I decided to narrow it down a bit, to start with small things and work my way up to the big questions so I took a deep breath, ignored my still burning throat and tried to think of my name.

The realisation that I could not even remember my own name was utterly crushing, I was panting as tears streamed ever faster down my face and my muscles trembled with fear and realisation.

I let the feeling consume me as I laid my head down on the over-starched pillow and let my tears flow down the sides of my face and into my hair.

Eventually I must have fallen asleep and a dream came to me, my minds way of trying to mend my broken heart.

"Hurry up already!" came Alice's impatient little singsong voice "Yeah seriously sweetie, all this attention is starting to make me feel very self conscious" My mom's sweet tones drifted up the stairs, I could tell there was a hint of humour there as I jammed my legs into my jeans.

Birthday tradition number one: For nine years now my mom and I have shared joint birthdays. Seeing as the rest of the family joked that we had been 'born' on near enough the same day and my mom had leapt at the opportunity to palm off any potential attention for herself onto me it had been the logical way forward.

I snatched her gift from the dresser and flew down the massive staircase to where my family was waiting.

Emmet instantly snatched me up into a bear hug and crushed all the breath out of my lungs "Happy birthday Half Pint" he boomed into my hair, I let out a strangled cry of thanks and he plopped me down to the floor where I was met by my favourite faces in the world all wishing me a happy birthday.

I made bee line straight for my mom and handed her the little black box that housed her gift, she opened the box to reveal the tiny memory card it housed and gave me a knowing smile.

Birthday tradition number two: mom never _ever_ allowed me to buy her gifts, I was only ever allowed to bestow gifts of my own creation upon her. I had never minded though, I always enjoyed thinking of something new each year and she cherished my gifts above all others.

This year I had outdone myself, having learned to play every instrument in any known orchestra over the years I had created my own orchestral version of my father's lullaby for her. It had taken hour upon hour to individually record myself playing each instrument and then work them all together to create a true orchestral effect but I was satisfied with the result and that's saying a lot considering mine and my families….enhanced hearing abilities.

Mom tucked the memory card away, "I can't wait to see what's on it, thanks Nudger" I smiled and showed her how much I loved both her and my dad, the feeling was so all encompassing that I had never felt that simply saying 'I love you' was enough, I had always felt the need to show them exactly how I feel and it made them melt whenever I did. Dad pulled me and mom into a 'Nessie sandwich' hug crushing both of us to him with me in the middle.

"OK now I think it's our turn" Dad said as he released us both. He and my mom flowed over to a massive shiny pink lump that was located in the middle of the front room floor.

"Happy birthday Ness!" my mom and dad chimed together whilst unveiling a pile of immaculately wrapped boxes from underneath a shimmering satin sheet. My eyes widened a little as I took in the pile and my dad rather smugly said "These ones are just from your mother and I." It turns out that dad loves nothing more than giving gifts to those he loves, unfortunately my mom hates receiving them so I seem to get completely and utterly spoiled by him, constantly.

I sighed, it's a hard life sometimes y'know.

I was at the pile in the blink of an eye and began to carefully tear off the paper, not wanting to seem like some sort of frantic child in front of my entire family – luckily Emmett managed it for the both of us and decided to give me a hand "Come on come on half pint, you're killing us here!" he boomed. In what seemed like one sweeping movement he had managed to unwrap every single one of the boxes and I gasped as I saw what my parents had bought me.

It was the sleekest, most futuristic computer I had ever seen with every single bell and whistle that could have accompanied it including a 40" widescreen monitor, mousegloves and eyepiece so I could access it from anywhere.

Emmett let out a low whistle which became completely overshadowed by my high pitched squealing as I danced around the boxes thinking _"Awesome awesome awesome!!"_ I projected it to everyone in the room and was met by chuckles and grins all round.

I whipped around and threw myself into my mom and dad as I shouted "You guys totally freaking ROCK" I smiled inwardly as I heard the breath whoosh from both of their chests and both of them had to inhale deeply before resuming their chuckling "We try" my dad said whilst peeling my arms from around both his and my mom's necks.

"No funny business now young lady" Mom said. I could tell she was trying to be authoritative but even she can't pull of stern when she's got a look of complete and utter adoration in her eyes. "Oh mom, I only hacked the pentagon that one time" I said in my sweetest singsong voice with a cheeky grin on my face. That seemed to tip the scale and any remnants of her stern face slipped as she grinned with me conspiratorially, she pulled me into a hug that would have crushed a human's bones into powder and breathed into my ear "My little genius." I giggled, kissed my mom on the cheek and rushed to pull the sleek looking components out of their boxes.

Jake's hulking figure was suddenly at my side as he helped me un-box what I can only describe my technological wet dream "Jeez Ness, this think look like it belongs at NASA!" Jake scoffed as he pulled the processor from it's Styrofoam casing, I marvelled at the sleek black casing and moved a finger to stroke it before I noticed Jake's reflection in the smooth surface.

Jake seemed to walk around perpetually topless, it was something I was used to and to be honest I had never really noticed it but in that moment, when I caught his reflection my breath caught in my chest and my heart rate increased. I started at his reflection, for the first time truly seeing the wonderous curve and definition of muscle covered by flawless copper skin, all other sound was drowned out as I listened to his strong, steady heartbeat and the rumble in his chest as he spoke.

I became acutely aware of his proximity to me, the hairs on his arms whispered against the skin of mine and intense heat radiated from him. My gaze roved up the shiny black surface to his face and only then did I snap out of my heated thoughts.

I could see in the reflection that he was looking at me with confusion, his dark eyebrows were knitted together and a grin was playing at the corner of his mouth. "Wow, you seriously love this computer huh? Your eyes just went as big as saucers! Perhaps you and the computer should get a room?" Jake was grinning now and looking at me like I was a couple of sandwiches short of a picnic. I could actually feel my brain whirring back into action as I tried to come up with a normal 'Nessie response' "Oh yeah, me and the computer are an item, didn't you know?" I said, trying to regain my composure. I shot a look at my dad who was looking at me with one eyebrow raised. Mom's power had only gotten stronger over the last 10 years and she was now able to shield anyone within a hundred mile radius of herself, although she generally stuck to shielding whoever was in the house at the time. The whole family had thanked her for the privacy and Dad was much happier for having some peace and quiet. I had never fully appreciated mom's gift until that very moment, although unfortunately without the ability to read people's thought's dad had become a true master at reading faces and bodies – apparently he'd started honing the talent when he first met my mom.

"Yes, yes shiny computer, that's all very well but you have other presents you know" She said as she danced over to me with another immaculately wrapped box nestled in her tiny marble hands. Alice always got nervous when she gave me gifts as she never knew whether I'd like them or not (not that I have ever received a gift from Alice that I didn't utterly adore). She handed me the box and nervously ran her hand through her spiky black hair, the tiniest little frown marred her smooth features and she bit her lip as I began to unwrap the small package. A small, square, deep purple box stared back at me and I tentatively lifted the lid. My eyes were met by a stunning hand crafted silver ring, the metal had been folded in on itself to create a perfect rose and nestled in the centre was a heart-stoppingly perfect blood red ruby the size of a pinhead. The overall effect was true beauty and an astonished smile played on my lips as I looked to Alice who was wearing a very smug expression, all traces of anxiety had evaporated as she drank in my reaction "Oh Alice" I breathed.

Jasper was suddenly at her side, squeezing her hand "I think you've outdone yourself this year" he said as her face broke into a pixie grin.

Suddenly a massive blue pulse of energy blasted through the house, it shattered windows and furniture and sent everyone flying in different directions, massive arms folded me into an embrace, I heard a steady beating heart and notes of pine drifted up my nostrils, I inhaled deeply. Then the world melted like it was made of wax and I screamed bloody murder.


	2. Chapter 2

**I do not own the rights to the Twilight saga or any of the characters within the Twilight saga. This is merely an attempt to extend what was a very enjoyable reading experience!**

**Thanks for continuing to read, I hope you will take the time to review as it encourages me to keep posting!!**

I stopped screaming abruptly as a heavyset woman burst into the room. She hurried over to me, flapping her hands and shushing me with a slightly over the top sympathetic look on her face.

I had forgotten what my dream was about but I know that it must have been awful for me to wake up screaming like that. Suddenly it came crashing down on me that I was still in the unknown place, not even aware of who I was.

The heavyset woman made it over to me, she was cooing words like "You're safe dear" and "There there" she had a comforting voice. I felt exhausted and vulnerable and this woman seemed nice, I needed human contact desperately so I inclined myself towards the woman. She noticed the movement immediately and her expression seemed to gain several levels in sympathetic intensity. She wrapped her arms around the top half of my body and pulled me into an embrace whilst gently rocking me to and fro.

It took me a millisecond to realise that I didn't like it. For a start I had been expecting the embrace to be hard and cold, Just the way I liked it, just the way it should be I thought to myself only I couldn't think why. Then there was the way this woman smelled, it was like food and it made my mouth water. I was suddenly incredibly aware of her heartbeat and the way it was pumping the blood through her body, I wondered how it might taste and was struck with an image of placing my teeth at her throat and feeling the warm liquid flow down my scorching and parched throat. "So thirsty" I croaked as I gently pulled myself away from the woman's embrace and pulsing temptation. I felt disgusted by myself, wondering momentarily at the possibility that I was some sort of monster. _No, you're just really fucking thirsty, you're mind is playing tricks_, I thought.

"Ok sweetie, let me pour you some water" she cooed before she turned around and started busying herself with a jug and faucet in the corner of the room.

I was desperate to begin bombarding this woman with questions but the burning in my throat was almost unbearable and her pulse seemed so loud in my ears. The woman turned and bustle towards me with a plastic beaker sloshing with water in one hand and a full jug in the other, why is she walking so damn slowly?.

She offered the beaker to me and I darted my hand out to take it, eager to quench my parched throat.

Her eyes widened a little and I heard her gasp ever so slightly before regaining her mask of sympathy. Ignoring her little slip I downed the water in a matter of seconds before ignoring all etiquette and drinking straight from the jug. The woman didn't seem bothered by my glass bypassing.

After my last swallow I noticed that although my throat felt lubricated, there was still a nagging burn there. I chose to ignore it for now in favour of getting some answers.

"Where am I?" I asked, suddenly surprised by the melodic sound of my voice, the woman seemed just as surprised by my voice as I was and it took her a fraction of a second longer than it should have to answer me.

"I think that question is best answered by Mr Crane, I'll call him in just a moment dear and let him know you're awake. Don't worry though, you're perfectly safe here. You're lucky even" She mused "This is the best place for a special girl like you" She gave me a conspiratorial wink and shuffled out the door.

My brow furrowed at her comment, what the hell did she mean by that? I wondered. Before I could ponder further I realised I could still hear her heavy footsteps moving away from the door. I heard her pick up something, press buttons and then say "It's Mina, tell him she's awake." I inclined my head further toward the door, straining my ears to hear more and to my surprise I picked up the tinny voice on the other end of the line "Very good Mina, I'll inform him right away. How is she?" "She woke up very distressed, I was worried at first but she calmed right down. I don't think she remembers much so she'll have alot of questions" "Don't worry about that Mina, Mr Crane will give her all the answers she needs to hear" The tinny woman sounded like she had a smile in her voice, as though she was sharing some sort of private joke with Mina. There was a clicking sound and heavy footsteps indicated that Mina was on her way back to my bedside.

I pulled the sheet up from either side of me to allow more movement in my lower half and lifted the covers to inspect what I was wearing. Something in the back of my head seemed to be warning me that I might need to run and I really didn't want to be doing that naked. To my relief I was wearing grey shorts with an elasticised waistband and a matching grey tank top. The fabric seemed very thin and flimsy, almost paper like.

I wiggled my toes and decided to meet Mina standing this time so I slid out from the covers and placed my feet onto the cold hard floor beneath me. When I was sure I would be able to support my own weight I flowed to a standing position and stretched my entire body, feeling joints pop and click.

Mina re-entered the room and did a double take when she saw me standing, a look of panic flashed on her features momentarily but she instantly righted herself and gave me her best impression of a dazzling smile that didn't reach her eyes. "Mr Crane will be here in just a minute, would you like some more water while you wait?" The burning was still nagging in my throat but I'd already learned that water wouldn't help "No, thank you" I replied sweetly before giving her a smile of my own which seemed to illicit an interesting reaction. Mina's jaw dropped a little and I heard her hear t rate increase, then her eyes locked onto my mouth and she edged back ever so slightly, her body having stiffened, before her face regained it's composure.

The smile slipped from my face as my attention was caught by footsteps on the hard floor drawing closer from outside the room. The shoes had hard soles, not like Mina's squeaky rubber ones and the walk was steady.

I knew it was a man approaching, although I couldn't pinpoint why. He was also whistling, it was a jaunty tune that sounded like he was making it up as he whistled it. The sound was pleasant and made me want to see the lips that were generating it. I felt my heart rate increase slightly but it wasn't from fear.

As he stepped through the door my breath caught in my chest a little. He was tall with sandy blonde hair, a smooth 30 something face with perfect white teeth and striking green eyes. I also noticed that he must have a well-defined body beneath his perfectly tailored suit. He flashed me a perfect smile that reached all the way to his eyes before saying "Well hello there Vanessa, My name is Mr Crane". He spoke in tones that immediately made me feel at ease and I knew without a shadow of a doubt that I could trust this man. He reminded me of someone I couldn't remember, but the C in his name seemed to stir something.

Suddenly I realised the key point in that opening sentence, He'd told me my name! I smiled a little, knowing that my gut instinct was right, this man was already much nicer and much more helpful than Mina.

Mr Crane moved forward with an outstretched hand, disturbing the air around him. It was then that I caught his scent and my nose wrinkled a little. It was so sickly sweet, it was like breathing syrup. I became slightly confused by the mixed signals my brain and body seemed to be giving me, my nose was telling me that something was off about Mr Crane but my eyes and mind were telling me to ignore that, didn't he look trustworthy? And he seemed so genuinely pleased to see me up and awake, I bet he'd been worrying about me, that his forehead had creased as he wondered whether I would even wake at all.

I moved forward and took his hand in one of mine, it was slightly clammy but I didn't mind. He laughed throatily and said "My, my Vanessa, that's a very firm handshake you have there." I smiled and let go, unsure as to whether he was paying me a complement or I had actually been crushing his digits. I flinched inwardly at the thought of causing him pain.

I realised that at least two minutes had gone by and I had not said one word, so I took a deep breath, swallowed and then like a fool, managed to word vomit all over Mr Crane

"Where am I?, What is this place? How did I get here? I can't remember anything" The words all tumbled out of my mouth before I could stop myself and I clamped my jaw shut to prevent throwing more questions at him.

Mr Crane didn't seem at all perturbed by my questioning and merely smiled before answering "I can certainly understand you have a lot of questions Vanessa so I'll give you all the answers I know"

I felt relief wash over me and he took a breath before he continued "You are in a facility called The Hub, it provides a base of operations for my organisation which provides opportunities as well as a safe haven for very special individuals such as yourself. You are perfectly safe here as it is one of the most well protected places in the world, you're very lucky we found you. Which leads me to your next question. You appeared from nowhere, above the base. It may sound unbelievable Vanessa but you literally fell from Heaven! When we found you we expected to find a broken mess but you survived the fall without a scratch on you, it was like you were a sleeping angel"

He was looking at me in wonder now but I was unable to speak, simply processing the information he was giving me. "It's obvious now that whatever brought you here damaged you in ways we couldn't see" He said as he tapped his temple, obviously referring to my amnesia. "Anyway" He continued brightly "It seems that fate has brought you to me and I am not a man to ignore a calling when I see one, so perhaps you will allow me to house you here and we can work on getting your memory back. In the meantime I think that my…team would be very interested to meet you. If you so wish it Vanessa, I believe you will fit in very well here."

He looked at me expectantly now, as though he wanted me to speak.

"If I just fell from the sky, how do you know my name?" I asked.

He smiled knowingly, pulling a shiny plastic card from his pocket and showing it to me, it had a grainy photo of a girl with a very pale face framed by silky looking bronze ringlets, her eyes were chocolate brown. The name on the card was 'Vanessa Wolfe'. He was showing me my own driver's licence, I reached out a hand to take it and he released it into my grasp. "It says it's a driver's licence but I've never seen one like it," He said in a voice that hinted at confusion "I have had people run search after search but they cannot seem to find a place on the planet called Washington"

_Well shit _I thought before a girl's voice popped into my head saying _"Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas any more"_


	3. Chapter 3

**I do not own the rights to the Twilight saga or any of the characters within the Twilight saga. This is merely an attempt to extend what was a very enjoyable reading experience.**

Thanks for continuing to read, I hope you will take the time to review as it encourages me to keep posting!!

Big thanks to Charlotte for my first review :o)

My legs felt weak beneath me and my breath was coming in short pants, the water was also threatening to make a comeback all over Mr Crane's shoes, his sickly sweet scent really wasn't helping.

My brain seemed to be working at a million miles an hour, trying to process the new and recover the old but after a couple of seconds everything stopped.

I focused on getting my brain to order what was there and was struck with the realisation that although I seemed unable to grasp memories of who I was or where I came from, I still possessed knowledge and logic.

Crane had sounded completely sincere when he'd pretty much told me that wherever I came from didn't appear to be located on this planet.

But the more I thought about it, the more preposterous it seemed, _perhaps he's joking _I thought.

I looked into his eyes and saw nothing but sincerity and concern, _OK not a joke_.

My thought train then brought me to my next conclusion, how can a theory like that be based simply on one item looking out of place? I or anyone else for that matter could have made that drivers licence using a photo of me, an imagination and a good computer.

The more I thought about it, the more I felt like my brain was trying to tell me that the licence was a fake but I felt like I was missing a vital piece of information, like the licence was a joke and I was in on it. Only I couldn't remember the punch line.

As my thoughts ran around in circles Crane's arm reached out and patted my own. I was pulled out of my stupor and pulled directly into his bottomless eyes "Don't worry, I promise we're going to get to the bottom of this, together." His voice was calm and reassuring, like the steady rumble of a car engine.

"I already think I know how you came to be here" The steady rumble turned into a slight growl as he spoke. _Ah_ obviously he had more evidence to be sounding so sure. It was as though he were angry at whoever had torn me from my home and dumped me into the unknown.

I felt a surge of warmth towards Crane, he seemed so protective over me and I needed that in my vulnerable state. "I am going to do everything within my power to help you Vanessa" He promised.

"Ness" I corrected him unconsciously, blinking lazily as I spoke

I snapped into focus again, realising what I'd just said.

I blinked several times and tried to concentrate on where I'd managed to pull that little bit of info from, _it just seemed right, like that's what everyone calls me_.

Crane's features flickered for a moment before resuming their calm smile "See, you're remembering already."

I felt buoyed by the thought of my memories coming back to me, although it was not enough to banish the sinking feeling that told me I could be _very_ far from home. _Wherever that is_.

"How do you think I came to be here?" I asked whilst secretly hoping he would tell me that I was dreaming and any second now I would wake up to an obnoxious alarm clock in a bed that felt familiar.

At the thought of a familiar bed my nostrils filled with the ghost of a scent; rich, earthy, musky with a hint of pine. I licked my lips to taste it in the air but of course all I got was a taste of Mr Crane's sickly sweet scent, the other had been a memory of some sort.

"I know you are anxious for answers V…Ness" He corrected himself "But I really think it would be best if we got you properly fed and watered and set you up with a room before I share my theories with you."

For a brief second I felt the urge to shake him violently and demand he share his information with me, I had a feeling I could command considerable strength should I so wish. However, the idea immediately seemed repulsive and I pushed it from my mind.

I decided to hold my tongue and let him play the good host for a while seeing as I hadn't gotten the impression he was avoiding answering my questions, it just seemed that he honestly believed my welfare to be more important than the information.

I forced a sweet smile before replying "OK then"

"Excellent!" Crane said as he clapped his hands together and turned towards Mina.

I'd forgotten she was even there, her heartbeat and breathing which had earlier sounded so loud in my ears had faded into the background. Becoming aware of her again increased the volume once more.

"Mina would you be so kind as to show Ness to her room?" Crane asked in a bright voice.

Mina nodded and fluttered her eyelashes at Crane, I heard her heartbeat quicken and her breaths become slightly shallower.

Hearing the blood pumping furiously through her veins caused my mouth to water. I remembered my burning throat and swallowed in a vain attempt to moisten the desiccated flesh.

Mr Crane turned to me again before placing his hand upon my own, I noticed his fingers twitch slightly as they made contact with my skin again "As soon as you have freshened up we shall take a meal together and we will talk properly."

He swept out of the room and a fresh burst of his scent hit me, I was getting used to it but it still left a slightly unpleasant tang on my tongue.

I followed Mina down a well lit but slightly claustrophobic corridor getting more frustrated by the second. I told myself it was her painfully slow walking and the infuriating squeak of her rubber-soled shoes but I knew deep down that I was frustrated by myself and the monstrous thoughts I kept having involving the woman's blood.

I was becoming more aware of my body and senses and I was beginning to feel like I had something within me that longed for release, it longed to take control and turn Mina's neck into a bloody and pulsating mess. My fingers reached out unconsciously towards her.

_NO!_ I told myself, curling my fingers into fists and snapping them down to my sides. _Whatever this urge is I will _not_ let it win_.

I made a conscious decision in that corridor to exercise supreme self control at all times and an unconscious decision to keep the urges I was feeling a most guarded secret.

"Here we are" Mina said, pulling me from my thoughts.

We had stopped at a large metal door, it was bright shining steel and didn't appear to have a handle or any sort of hinges. I wondered for a moment whether it was actually a door before Mina placed her palm on a backlit panel mounted on the wall next to me and the steel door slid aside with a hiss.

We stepped into a reasonable sized room that was lit like it basked in the glow of the sun, although I noticed no windows.

There was a large bed with crisp white sheets and a bunch of bland looking bedroom furniture including a wardrobe, chest of drawers, desk and small sofa. All of it looked brand new and the overall effect was like looking at a page from an Ikea catalogue.

"Welcome to your room dear. The pad's programmed for your hand too so you can come and go as you please" She took a breath and continued like a bellboy showing me my hotel room, I would have slipped her a tip to make her go away but I was wearing paper clothes with no pockets so I let her continue with her pointless tour as her pulse throbbed in my ears.

She finally left me in peace, informing me that when I was ready I should wait for Mr Crane in the Mess Hall which was further down the corridor.

I let out my breath in a whoosh as soon as the door hissed closed behind her.

After a long shower I discovered that all the drawers were filled with clothes – actual clothes, not more of that paper crap.

I selected a pair of black leggings that looked metallic along with a white t-shirt that was made out of fabric that felt like liquid between my fingers. The clothing fitted perfectly with the leggings sitting snugly on my hips and the t-shirt flowing down my torso and clinging in all the right places.

I had searched for over ten minutes trying to find the plainest clothes possible, the mess hall sounded like a public place and the last thing I wanted to do was waltz in there looking out of place.

After combing and drying my curls I searched for something to wear on my feet, having thrown away the paper slippers that had been provided for my walk down the corridor.

I located a pair of flat shoes that reminded me of ballet slippers (my size of course) and slipped them onto my feet before placing my palm onto the pad by the door and making my way to the mess hall.

The door to the Mess Hall was the same as the door to my room, I placed my palm on the pad and it whooshed open revealing a cocophony of sound that assaulted my ears. I had gathered already that I had very good hearing so I was lead to the conclusion that rooms with doors like this must be very well soundproofed.

Music that was heavy in bass reverberated off the walls, there was male laughter and sound effects that sounded like a fight issuing from the corner to my right.

As I stepped through the doorway a riot of scents came at me. I smelled the distinct musky smell of teenage boys, various unappetizing smells of food, cigarette smoke some chemical smells I couldn't place and lastly, just lingering underneath the surface of all the other smells was an aroma that made me think of meadows full of flowers.

The room itself was not at all what I had been expecting, for a start it was massive with a high ceiling and warm colours on the walls.

There was a large kitchen area with a massive fridge, appliances I couldn't name and a breakfast bar with several stools lined up along it.

One of the stools was occupied by a willowy looking girl with latte coloured skin and straight auburn hair that hung down her narrow back. She didn't look up as I entered, choosing instead to stare into the glass of water she was nursing.

To the right of the kitchen was a games area which was mostly dominated by a large pool table covered in electric blue felt, balls were scattered across it as though a game had been stopped midway.

As my eyes roved further they settled on two guys in their late teens standing opposite each other in front of a massive flat screen TV. The were both wearing headsets and gloves and I could see computer generated images of them projected onto the TV.

A bell sounded and the guys stepped away from each other.

They were standing about 5 feet apart when one of them threw the first punch. The other's head recoiled as though it had been struck but he immediately righted himself and delivered a high kick in the direction of the side of the other guy's head.

As they performed their moves into the air in front of them their counterparts on the TV seemed to be engaged in the actual fight, the player's blows connecting with synthesised sound effects.

One of the guys dodged a blow from the other saying "Nice try asshole" with a sneer. The other growled "I'm gonna fuck you up dude!" and the fight continued.

When the game had finished they removed their gear, engaging in more banter.

One of the guys was tall, muscular and had messy brown hair that hung down to the middle of his neck. He had a pretty face but it held an expression that told me he knew he was pretty and that immediately put me off.

The other was slightly shorter and very lean, he had greasy black hair that was scraped back and clung to his scalp looking like an oily helmet, his eyes were black and his skin had an unhealthy pallor to it. I noticed that his movements were sinuous and the overall affect was unnerving.

As they turned and spotted me they both stopped talking. The face of the brown haired guy split into a predatory grin and he immediately made his way over to me.

I kept my eye on him but couldn't help notice the guy with the black hair step to the side and seemingly melt from my view.

"Well well, you must be the new girl." The pretty boy sneered and then whistled at me whilst looking me up and down "Holy shit you are ball-achingly hot!"

I looked at him with the most unimpressed expression I could muster before replying in a flat voice "That's funny because I was just considering kneeing you in the balls"

The monster in me growled, it wanted to play with him, make him sweat a little.

I smiled at him but it had no sweetness to it.

He looked at my teeth and his smile slid from his face. I took amusement in seeing him force himself not to step back.

I filed away the knowledge that my teeth seemed to scare people, remembering Mina's reaction earlier.

Pretty boy's eyes suddenly focused on something behind me and I could feel the presence of the oily one.

It was as though he had just materialised behind my back, I could feel him moving towards me, disturbing the air around him. I heard the material of his clothes move, I heard his breathing and pulse and heartbeat. I could smell him and his scent made me think of a very cold, very dark room.

I knew he was trying to sneak up on me so I decided to surprise him first.

I whipped my body round and caught his hand as it gravitated to where my ass had been, I pulled it upwards, careful not to exert too much force and he grunted and fell to his knees with a horrified expression on his face. _Huh_, I thought as he writhed in my grasp _I'm either pretty strong or this guy is pretty weak_.

"No touching" I told him in a tone someone would use to scold a dog.

Before the situation could go any further the door hissed open and Mr Crane stepped in carrying a tray containing two plates of steaming food.

I released the arm I had been holding and dropped my hands to my sides.

Crane took in the scene before him, his brow creasing as he looked from one guy to the other "Nestor" He said whilst looking at the greasy one on the floor who was massaging his shoulder.

His gaze moved to the other standing behind me before he continued.

"Tobin, please go to your rooms" he asked through a clenched jaw.

Nestor and Tobin left the room with their eyes to the floor, they didn't say a word.

"Maya, would you mind leaving us too please?" He asked the girl at the breakfast bar with a much gentler tone of voice.

"Sure" Maya replied.

As she walked past me I got another whiff of meadow flowers, it was very pleasant and I wanted to inhale as much as I could before being faced with the overpowering sweetness of Mr Crane once more.

Once we were alone Crane made his way over to the breakfast bar and placed the tray down.

He sat himself down on a stool and pulled a plate toward him before patting the stool to his left and moving the other plate to sit on the surface in front of it.

I sat next to him and looked into his eyes expectantly.

He smiled warmly at me and said "You eat and I'll tell you everything I know"


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I am not Stephenie Meyer, I do not own the rights to the Twlight Saga and only the characters of my own creation belong to me. This is only an attempt to prolong a thoroughly enjoyable readind ecperience.**

**Sorry it's taken me so long to update, this chapter was more difficult to write than I had expected!**

**I hope you enjoy it and will review.**

**The next chapter will be up much sooner.**

I smelled the food in front of me, the plate contained a cut of meat, vegetables and potatoes all covered in some sort of gravy.

I knew I was hungry but the food just didn't smell appetizing. I told myself to eat it anyway and began to push the food around my plate, deliberating over what to eat first when Mr Crane began talking.

"Torrin found you three days ago. As I told you before, you were seen to have fallen from the sky in a flash of blue about three miles away. You were brought back here, to the Hub and we set you up in a bed in the med ward in the hopes you would awake soon and tell us what had happened to you.

I already had my theories by then, due to what Torrin had told me about your appearance. Your strange drivers licence was just something else to confirm my theory."

I let Crane's words wash over me. He'd not yet given me new information but I could sense it was coming. I felt nervous so I tried to occupy myself with the food, cutting off a chunk of meat and spearing it with my fork. It was dry, tasting of garlic and oil. The texture felt all wrong in my mouth. Longing to spit it out, but aware of what was acceptable table etiquette I simply chewed as fast as I could and tried to keep the grimace off my face. My teeth sliced through the flesh effortlessly, creating a meat puree that slid down my throat without me even having to swallow. It took a massive amount of effort not to gag as it hit my empty stomach.

I decided to give the meal a miss and just focus on what Mr Crane had to say.

He wasted no time, getting to the point immediately with very little backstory.

"I own a very large company based in Central City that develops new technology. Two years ago I assigned a man called Arnold Humber to a project called 'Gatemaker'. It involved the development of a machine that could fold space, creating gateways that allowed instantaneous travel from one point to another anywhere on the planet. It was a success and whilst I wished to perfect the version we had, Humber wanted to push the boundaries further by creating a new Gatemaker that would open gates to…other places."

I froze, knowing where this was going. Knowing it wasn't going to end well. Knowing that if this story had the ending I wanted it to have then I would already be back where I came from.

Crane looked into my face. His expression softened to one of sympathy, to one that told me he didn't want to tell me things I didn't wish to hear but respected me enough to do it anyway.

"When I told Humber that he was not to take the research any further and was to only concentrate on perfecting Gatemaker he grew angry. There was a confrontation which ended with me firing him, naively thinking that was the end of it."

"But it wasn't" I stated simply

"No. The next day I arrived at the lab to find nothing but a pile of rubble. Humber had stolen Gatemaker and destroyed not just that lab, but the entire building. Years and years of research wiped away in one single night.

There was a nationwide manhunt but as you can imagine, when one owns what is essentially a teleportation device one can be very difficult to find."

A hint of bitterness had crept into his voice. I could understand why.

"So you're saying that Humber got this machine to take him wherever it is that I came from and what? Kidnapped me? Why?"

"I'm saying that I think, since he destroyed my building and stole my technology that he's been trying to improve it. He got it to tear a hole in the fabric of something that should have been left alone and trespassed in a place he was not meant to be. As to the why of it, I have my theories but would be grateful if you gave me a little time to substantiate them before I shared them with you. I have no wish to provide you with false information."

I wanted to ask him to just tell me everything there and then but the gentle look in his eyes told me to be patient.

"I will tell you this though; If Humber wanted to kidnap you it's because you are special and I have absolutely no doubt that he and those who work with him are currently looking for you. It is my only wish to keep you safe until I find a way to return you home so I hope you will accept my offer of housing you here within the Hub until I get to the bottom of all this. I will do everything I can to help you get your memory back in the meantime, after all I can't help but feel responsible for this mess."

He looked utterly ashamed as he said the last and although I could see how he could come to that conclusion I held no resentment towards him. I felt only gratitude that it was Crane who found me and not Humber.

I smiled warmly at Crane and he smiled weakly back, his eyes were endless swirling azure pools of emotion.

After a brief second he seemed to rearrange his features, his eyes lost some of the immeasurable depth and he was all business again.

"Now, Mina has shown you your room but I shall assign someone to give you a proper tour. I would love to do it myself but unfortunately I have to leave the Hub for a couple of days to follow up some leads. I will be back as soon as I can."

He shifted himself off of his stool, sending a fresh waft of cloying sweetness my way and leaving his meal as unfinished as my own.

I found myself biting my tongue in order to stop the words _stay, please_ leaving my mouth. I didn't like the idea of his absence, I would miss him, even that odd smell of his.

Just seconds after he had left, Maya, the willowy girl with auburn hair stepped through the door.

I could smell her floral scent from across the room and it cleansed the last of Crane's from the back of my mouth. It also re-awoke the burning sensation which caused me to have a minor internal panic attack whilst I kept my face as placid as possible. I stared at the two plates of now cold food upon the breakfast bar.

I was beginning to worry that this was what it was going to be like for me here. Meals with people who had pulses as loud as low flying airplanes and blood that called out to me. Plates consisting of various foul tasting delicacies that I would have to shovel down my throat whilst all the while thinking of how I would like to take my meal from theirs.

Maya approached me, unaware of my internal struggle. I noticed properly the wonderful colour of her skin, it was cream textured with just a hint of chocolate.

Her heartbeat was an irregular pitter patter and I could see her pulse jittering in her neck. She was nervous. I felt my mouth water.

"We didn't get a chance to meet before." She said in small lilting voice "I'm Maya"

She offered a delicate hand to me which I took as gently as I could before swallowing my build up of saliva and answering as casually as I could "I'm Ness. Are you here to give me a tour?"


	5. Chapter 5

**I do not own the Twilight Saga or any of the characters except for the ones I have created myself.**

**This is merely an attempt to prolong an enjoyable reading experience.**

Maya withdrew her hand gently and I allowed my own to fall by my side.

"Nah, I'm not you're tour guide, that'll be Torrin's job. I kind of just figured you hadn't really been introduced to anyone yet, unless you count the two walking penises earlier." She spoke with a grin playing at the sides of her mouth.

"You handled yourself pretty well with them. The best thing you can do is show them who's boss from the start."

"Thanks, I figured as much." I was smiling back, I couldn't help myself.

Her expression melted seamlessly from cheeky to compassionate, I noticed her eyes were a wonderfully intricate hazel with flecks of gold. The overall effect of her hair, skin tone and eyes was striking.

"I know you're probably scared but you're in a good place with good people."

Her eyes shone with sincerity as she spoke and I found myself unable to resist liking her. She looked sweet and honest and her delicate features made her seem soft and harmless.

In deciding that I liked her I found the burning in my throat easier to ignore. I suppressed it with sheer force of will and as I did so her heartbeat became less of an enticing and incessant thump and more of a background beat that I could phase out. Her smell was more difficult to block. I found her meadow flower aroma infinitely more mouth watering than the food that had sat in front of me just a few minutes ago and each small movement of her body seemed to gently waft a little more of it my way. It was still tolerable, however.

We both turned as the door hissed again and Mina bustled through. She made a bee line for the plates of cold food and began scraping them off and clearing them away before she even noticed us. When she did, she gave me her best impression of a warm smile. Her expression changed as she noticed Maya.

Mina actually managed to look down on Maya despite being several inches shorter, I considered it quite a talent, wondering if it was a look she practiced often. It certainly seemed to look a lot more natural on her than the simpering smile that never reached her eyes.

I noticed whatever feelings there were between these two, they were mutual, when Maya's tone turned into mock sincerity and she said, "Why Mina, those shoes show off your kankles beautifully." She turned and breezed out of the room before Mina had even taken a breath for her retort but the words "Don't you have a Ficus to water somewhere?" followed Maya out of the room as though Mina had sharpened and thrown them like a spear.

I silently put the distance of the room between myself and Mina, not wanting to be dragged into any bitching. Mina, however had other ideas and talked at me as though I were some sort of co-conspiritor "Little madam thinks she's special you know? Well I can't see how making grass grow is very special, can you?"

Unsure of whether the question was rhetorical or not, or what the hell she was talking about for that matter I decided not to answer.

Mercifully I was saved by the door hissing open once more and a ghost of a woman stepped in.

She looked about nineteen years old with a fresh but angular face. Her hair was the colour of starlight and cascaded in waves over her shoulders to rest around her hips. Her lashes and brows were the same colour, making them seem almost invisible in the right light but making her eyes stand out with striking and unavoidable force. Her irises were two grey storms that mutated and crackled with such power that I was unable to look away.

Expecting her to have the voice of the angel, I was surprised when my ears were met by sultry, gravelly tones. "I'm Torrin, you're friendly tour guide" she said sarcastically.

She smelled of something I could not name, something I could not remember.

"I'm Ness, the tourist" I replied in what I hoped would be interpreted as a friendly tone.

Her lips pulled up in the faintest of smiles as she turned to head back out the door. It began to hiss shut and my body lurched forwards as I darted forwards after her, shocking myself when I ended up outside in the corridor before she did.

I had expected a gasping reaction from Torrin but she was quick to disappoint, merely regarding me with curiosity before setting off down the winding walkway.

"I'd tell you to try and keep up but I see that's not going to be a problem."

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Torrin showed me room after room in the rabbit warren that was The Hub. There were laboratories, living quarters, a large gym, a dining room that could seat over a hundred people. There was a massive room that looked like a jungle where I met Maya once again, perched on an enormous Venus Fly Trap. She grinned and waved to me, telling me to come back later and she'd give me a separate tour of her 'garden'.

When I had asked her about the lack of windows, Torrin explained to me that The Hub was actually an underground base, built after the Crane Industry building was destroyed by Humber. It's location was a heavily guarded secret to ensure that it did not suffer the same fate as it's predecessor.

I found myself feeling suddenly claustrophobic after she had shared that little nugget of info.

When the tour was over I made my way back to the jungle room where Maya was waiting for me.

As I stepped inside moist air clung to my hair, skin and clothing. I smelled trees, plants and flowers all around me and was reminded of scents that were forgotten, my brain tried to place them but the struggle was lost and I gave up as I heard Maya approach.

I looked directly above my head to see her perched on a thick branch of a tall tree, she smiled cheekily and beckoned for me to join her.

I didn't even have to think about it, I just shot up the tree and there I was, sitting beside her. "You move like a cobra strike." She said with a hint of awe in her voice.

"Um….thanks" I told my knees.

"We're all special in our own ways here but none of us can move like you."

I was about to answer but she cut me off, "You're strong too."

It was a statement, not a question.

I decided to play dumb and see where the conversation took us. I raised my head slowly to meet her eyes. "Am I?"

She rolled her eyes "You almost broke Nestor's arm and you didn't even look like you were trying. Not that I mind, if you ask me, that oily fuck would benefit from having a couple of bones broken."

I silently agreed with her, remembering the way he had appeared out of nowhere with that leering face.

"Anyway I heard Mr Crane saying that you move real fast and he thinks you've got some sort of super hearing and super sight. I think you definitely have super sight if you can hear a shadow creep up on you."

Her word vomit confused me "What do you mean by that?"

She looked at me like I was slow "Didn't anybody tell you?"

I held back a retort that would have sounded like _"If I knew what the hell you were talking about I wouldn't have asked the fucking question."_

Instead I simply said "Tell me what?"

"There's a group of us who live in The Hub, we used to live real rough down in the old subways of central city until Crane found us and offered us something better. Now we've got gifts and we use them to help people."

She gestured with a hand and hundreds of vines seemed to appear out of nowhere to twist over her body like snakes. She smiled widely at me as the vines unwrapped and began twining themselves at her feet to form a perfect green staircase to the floor.

She walked down them with willowing grace, turning to face me once she had reached the bottom. With another hand gesture the vines slithered into the earth beneath her feet and disappeared.

She looked proudly into my utterly gobsmacked face.

"Cool huh?"


	6. Chapter 6

**I don't own any of the rights to the Twilight saga, only to the characters of my own creation.**

Unable to respond I simply sat on the tree limb with my mouth hanging open.

My brain had been desperately trying to process so much since I had woken; memory loss, kidnapping, the fact I could be in some sort of alternate world, strange monstrous urges, crazy underground bases and now teenage tearaways that could do impossible things. This just seemed like one more thing to put into the crazy pile for this place.

Looking back, I couldn't decide the reason for me simply accepting what I had seen and what I'd been told since I woke up. Perhaps it was because my mind felt so lost I just needed to cling on to the first pieces of information I was given, despite how ludicrous they may sound. Or perhaps it was because I was able to know in my heart when I see something that's real. Or maybe, just maybe I accepted all the fucked up, crazy shit because I was expecting to wake up any minute.

Anyway, I decided that if I was going to accept everything that had been thrust upon me up until that point then I might as well accept what Maya was showing me.

Maya was looking up at me with an expectant look in her eyes. Perhaps she thought I was about to burst into spontaneous applause. She thought wrong.

With a matter of fact tone Maya told me "I can control plants."

Suddenly a few of Mina's comments fell into context and I realised why the woman harboured a bitter edge, _jealousy_ .

"That's….amazing" Was about all I could manage for a response.

Maya's expression seemed to change a little, she looked almost embarrassed. "The other guys can do pretty amazing stuff too." Then, after a short pause her expression melted into childlike fear. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you with my major freakiness. That was stupid of me after all you've had to deal with today."

"It's fine, really. In fact it's incredibly cool to know that apparently I'm not the only freak in the building." I finished the sentence with a grin playing at one side of my mouth.

She smiled sheepishly "Well that's a relief, I thought I was about to see a Vanessa shaped hole in the wall over there." She inclined her head towards the door.

Maya spent the next hour showing me the different species of fauna in the cavernous room that housed her garden. I listened to her tell me about carnivorous flowers that could attract their prey by emitting a smell not unlike raw meat.

The chance to escape from my own swirling thoughts was welcome and I was grateful to her for unwittingly (or perhaps even wittingly) providing the distraction.

My lesson was brought to an end when Maya declared she was starving. At her words I was suddenly reminded of my own hunger-thirst and the burning in my throat was joined by my stomach gurgling angrily. Once again Maya's culinary appeal flared and once again I crushed it with an iron will before suggesting we venture out to find some food.

*******************************************************************

Back in the mess hall, I sat opposite Maya as she delicately picked at a plate full cold cuts of unappetizing meat. She had tried several times to offer me some and each time I had politely refused.

When I asked where Torrin was she had told me simply that everyone wanted to get an early night in preparation for tomorrow.

"What's happening tomorrow?"

"You're gonna join our Test and Train."

My eyebrows shot about three inches up my forehead. The words test and train sounded equally as bad as each other and I was suddenly accosted by images of being strapped into a metal chair while a wicked looking contraption forced my eyes open and a TV screen played unending images of horror before me.

Maya giggled gently "Don't worry, essentially you'll be playing games with us. It's dodgeball at 8am. I want you on my team" she winked.

I let out the breath I hadn't realised I'd been holding and silently kicked myself for jumping to such crazy conclusions.

When Maya decided she'd had enough of the cold meat she asked me if I needed help finding my room. It was another offer I politely refused and I exited the mess after we wished each other a good night.

I found my room again with ease, delighting in the fact that although my long term memory had taken somewhat of a beating, my short term memory was literally photographic.

After a shower and a change into the closest thing I could find to nightwear I crawled into my generic bed with it's generic white sheets and lumpy pillows and cried.

I let out the sorrow I had been afraid to display in the company of my new friends, mourning the loss of my memories and wrapping my arms around myself in a vain attempt to close the gaping wound that was my heart.

It felt as though whatever life I had left behind was a word on the tip of my tongue, an answer I couldn't quite remember but I knew it was in there, behind some door in my mind that had been locked securely.

There was something behind the door, something so important it made me ache to remember it. I cried harder, mentally hammering my fists against the door and was rewarded by the faintest whisper of a bell chime voice. It hummed a melody that was so utterly beautiful, so familiar and yet so strange.

The melody brought blessed sleep to me and I was lost in a world of dreams again.......................

I stood in the shower letting the warm rose scented water flow down through my hair and over my body. Esme had had it custom built for me, just like the rest of my room.

I turned the water temperature right down so it felt like fresh rain on my skin.

Of course it didn't feel cold to me.

My cell phone began ringing in the next room, I could hear it buzzing along my dresser. I never bothered with a ring tone, finding them obnoxious and, even when set to their quietest, too loud.

I shut off the water, grabbed one of the massive, fluffy towels from the rack and wrapped it around my dripping form as I darted towards my phone.

I caught it halfway through it's second ring and didn't even have a chance to say hello before a familiar smiling voice was asking what the hell had taken me so long to answer.

"For your information I was in the shower. I know it might be an alien concept for you but some people actually wash on a daily basis." I actually heard him sniff his pits and had to stifle a giggle.

"Are you trying to say I have odour issues?" He asked incredulously, although I could hear in his voice that he was grinning ear to ear.

"Maybe" I replied whilst thinking the complete opposite. Jacob's scent was fantastic, it was like the forest after the rain – clean and piney with a subtle undercurrent of musk. The rest of my family seemed to think he smelled unbearably like an unwashed dog. I thought that sometimes if I inhaled really deeply I would get the metallic notes of his blood pumping under the smooth coppery surface of his skin.

I realised I could hear the steady thump of his heartbeat down the phone, it drowned out all other sound, filling my ears with a soothing rhythm and filling my mind with visions of my head resting against his bare chest.

It all burst like a bubble when Jakes voice penetrated my daydream "Hellooooo?! You still there?"

I snapped back to reality and fired off a Nessie comeback "Sorry, I was just trying to find out whether I _could_ actually smell you down the phone if I concentrated hard enough."

He made what was supposed to be some sort of indignant choking sound "That's it. I'll be there in five minutes to kick your ass." There was a series of little beeps telling me he'd hung up the phone.

I tossed my cell onto the bed and shot into my closet.

3 minutes later I was in the kitchen tapping my fingernails on the granite countertop. Esme ghosted into the room behind me and ran pale fingers through my damp curls.

"I wish you wouldn't do that little one" Her gentle voice intoned as she lifted my hand to reveal four half moon shaped divots.

"Crap. Sorry Grandma" I said with a grimace, shoving my busy hands into my pockets.

She smiled at me with a sparkle in her amber eyes "If you need to busy your hands I suggest you make some food. I assume you're awaiting Jacob's arrival?"

I nodded dumbly and within half a second Esme had laid out everything I needed to make brownies along the counter. She winked at me and pressed a button on the oven as she flowed back out of the room.

I stood there like a moron for another ten seconds before I got my ass into gear.

When Jake burst through the door I was melting butter and chocolate in a large glass bowl. He made a dive for me but I dodged his hulking form effortlessly, sending him face first into the fridge.

He whirled around rubbing his forehead and pouting "Stupid vampire senses."

"Tell me about it, I could smell you a mile away" I retorted breezily whilst my stomach did somersaults.

I cursed myself silently for constantly feeling like a complete ass whenever I had been around Jake recently. It was like I was constantly battling to try to convince myself that I was not crushing on my best friend and I was losing.

Man I hated to lose.

Jake seemed to notice what I was doing and abruptly gave up the charade of being hurt, his gaze was suddenly very alert as he sniffed the air "You're making brownies!"

I rolled my eyes theatrically before dipping a finger into the chocolate. I turned around, intending to smear it down his nose but he caught my hand in an iron grip and shoved my finger into his mouth instead.

It was the most sensual thing I had ever felt. He gently sucked and used his tongue to take the sweet liquid from my finger. I gasped as I felt electricity surge through my veins and a strange heat that had begun to build from my centre outwards.

He pulled my finger from his mouth and smacked his lips before looking straight into my eyes.

It was right then that everything changed.

His eyes widened and raked over me as though he was seeing me for the first time.

His mouth popped open to form a perfect O and I heard all the air whoosh out of his lungs.

We both just stood there, facing each other and not moving. Electric energy seemed to crackle back and forth between us and my mind was utterly blank except for a vivid vision of him moving towards me and placing his lips on mine.

Apparently I must have projected the thought because that's exactly what he did.

He closed the crackling space between us in a single stride. My heartbeat was hammering in my ears and I could feel my pulse in my fingertips.

I don't know what I had been expecting but what he did was so much better.

He reached out a trembling hand and tilted my face up towards his. I could feel his sweet breath on my skin and it made my mouth water.

Oxygen caught in my throat and I held my body perfectly still as his lips drew closer to my own. And then, ever so softly, our mouths brushed together.

Time stopped for me right there. Someone could have lit my hair on fire and I wouldn't have noticed. All I could hear was our hearts hammering in unison. All I could see were bright spots behind my eyes. I was trying to get my head around the euphoric sensation that was our kiss when he kicked it up a notch.

His lips pressed against my own more urgently. Gently he opened my mouth with his own and slipped his tongue in making everything else melt away and leaving me only with the kiss.

He tasted of something pure, clean and utterly delicious with a hint of the chocolate he had sucked from my finger. His tongue caressed my own, his right hand cupped the back of my head and his left traced tingling patterns over the small of my back.

I felt as though I was on fire, I couldn't breathe, it was absolutely exquisite

After what could have been several hours, but was most probably a couple of minutes we broke apart, flushed and panting we both looked at one another, unsure of what to say.

Unfortunately our silence was broken by neither of us. Emmett strolled into the room and stopped dead before gasping "Holy Crap! I won. I can't believe I actually won."

His voice was full of awe. Jake and I looked at him, eyebrows raised.

Alice was there less than a second later, she looked back and forth between us, utter disbelief on her face.

"Is someone going to tell me what the hell this is about?" Jake asked.

Emmett had broken into a victory dance accompanied by various 'uh huh's and 'oh yeah's as well as the occasional "booyah!" He also did a very good robot before breaking into a headspin on the floor, flipping back upright, doing the 'running man' and finishing the whole thing off with a perfect moonwalk.

We all watched, transfixed by a vampire built like a linebacker in his victory dance glory.

Alice spoke when he started his second rendition of his routine, her voice seemed to contain something I had never heard from her. "Me and Emmett made a bet on how long it would take you two to get together and it appears that Emmett made a lucky guess."

I realised her voice contained rage with a hint of shame. She spoke through gritted teeth.

Jacob seemed to be regarding the situation with amusement. I, on the other hand felt my cheeks flame before I exploded at Emmett. "I told you that in confidence you jerk!!"

Emmett stopped dancing. Alice turned slowly towards him, her gaze contained deadly force. "You. _Knew_?"

Emmett gulped and I watched his adams apple bob up and down. I followed the movement and the urge to smash my fist into his throat bubbled up inside me. "Ummmm well, Nessie may have told me she was having certain thoughts about a certain someone."

"Yeah, in _con_fidence. NOT so you could use the information to make bets about my love life!!" I was shrieking at the top of my lungs and Emmett recoiled as I edged towards him.

"Jeez, cut me a break half pint. I didn't tell anyone what you'd told me I just used the information to gain a tactical advantage over the most annoying know-it-all in existence…..apart from Edward of course."

Jacob snickered.

"Oh come on" Alice interrupted him "You cheated and you know it. The bet is off. You're disqualified." She said the last with unashamed satisfaction.

Emmett protested and bickering ensued but it all just became background noise as I felt a large warm hand run over my vertebrae. I suddenly decided that I didn't care about the bet or Emmett or anyone else for that matter as my mind raced over the kiss we had just shared. Tiny shivers ran over my body as I turned to look into the beautiful brown eyes of my destiny, of the man who had been everything I needed as I was growing up and would be everything I needed forevermore.

He grinned at me, it was goofy and dazed, as though he could hardly believe his luck. _Silly wolf_ I thought _It's me who's the lucky one_.

We escaped out of the back door just as Alice launched herself at Emmett, I heard furniture being destroyed as we ran to the woods.

I heard Esme scolding as I laughed and shot ahead of Jacob.

I heard Emmett howling "Get her off, get her off, somebody pleeeeeeease get her _off_ me!!" as I turned and whispered "Catch me if you can" in a voice thick with desire.

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**I hope you liked this chapter.**

**I would be really grateful if you'd provide me with some feedback by reviewing!!**


	7. Chapter 7

**I am not Stephenie Mayer. I do not own the Twilight saga. This is merely an attempt tp prolong an enjoyable reading experience.**

**I hope you enjoy reading this chapter as much as I enjpyed writing it.**

**As usual your opinions are most welcome; In other words feel free to review!!**

**Jake's POV**

My paws thundered through the forest as my nose worked desperately to find her scent. I'd been searching for days and found nothing but the faintest whiff of her and it simply trailed off to nowhere.

You might think that waking up with a chest full of bullets was the most brutally painful thing I'd ever experienced in my life. You would, of course, be wrong. Yes, it was extremely fucking painful, it had taken me three full days to even move again. But this, knowing she was near, knowing she could be in danger and being unable to find her and hold her in my arms and hear her heartbeat, that was the worst pain I had ever felt. _That_ pain made me wish for the bullets.

The only thing that kept me moving, made me eat when I was hungry and drink when I was thirsty and not just curl up and wish for the sweet release of death was the knowledge she was somewhere near, waiting for me to find her.

Memory after memory flashed through my mind, reminding me of her.

_A delicious breeze whipped past me from behind, gently billowing my shirt. I closed my eyes and smelled floral notes mingled with the forest and the sea._

"_JAKE!!" Nessie's bell-ring voice rang out and I snapped my eyes open to see her moving like a lightning bolt towards me, before I could even crack a smile she was in my arms. I hugged her bony, lanky little body with just enough pressure, I always knew just the right way to hold her – never too rough but never insultingly gentle, Ness liked her bear hugs, or as she called 'em "Wolf Hugs"._

_I lifted her onto my shoulders and started towards the house, she giggled, placing both her velvet soft palms onto my cheeks, images flashed through my mind: Edward teaching her advanced algebra, Nessie reading the second half of a midsummer night's dream to Bella and then Nessie's pure and glowing delight as she orchestrated the entire Cullen clan to perform it scene for scene (she was definitely the only being on the entire planet who could get Emmett, Jasper, Edward and Carlisle to dress in skin tight leggings with zero complaint). _

_I hated every minute I had to spend away from her, I felt like I constantly missed things and it hurt me like a knife to the heart every time she showed me something significant that I had missed. I lived to see her perfect little smile, to hear her giggle so hard she gave herself the hiccups, to watch her do those extraordinary things she constantly did with absolutely no warning. But I had responsibilities that I couldn't avoid and I knew when she was old enough to understand she would tell me she expected nothing less of me._

I didn't miss everything though, I'd been there the first time she had played the piano and I was eternally grateful for that.

_I'd been sitting by one of the windows in the music room, rain pounded hard on the glass. Nessie had been lying belly down on the floor drawing a perfect replica of Vincent Van Gough's Sunflowers as Edward played a song he often played on the piano, it was some sort of tribute to his love of Bella. Nessie's feet were crossed in the air and her toes wiggled to each individual note Edward played, she was humming a perfect harmony, weaving it through the tune as though it was a well known part of the song that only she could hear. _

_Suddenly her face became thoughtful and Edward stopped playing, in less than a second he had shifted over on the bench and she was sitting next to him, her delicate little fingers poised over the ebony and ivory keys. A little frown formed on her perfect face and Edward gave her one of his thoughtful looks. Suddenly her fingers were dancing over the keys as she played Clare De Lune better than any concert pianist in the world, I felt my mouth curve up into an ear to ear grin as Edward's jaw dropped open. _

_Bella walked into the room with her eyes closed, humming along to the melody. It wasn't until Edward crept up behind her and wrapped his arms round her waist that she snapped her eyes open, realising he wasn't the one playing. She gasped as Nessie looked up at her grinning, the little genius didn't even need to look at the keys while she was playing!_

_Suddenly the room was full of vampires, all eyes on her as though they were watching the most interesting movie ever made. As Nessie drew the performance to a close the room erupted with clapping and cheers – the loudest coming from me, of course._

As I relished that memory, another hit me:

_Emmett was sitting in the garden with Ness perched on one of his shoulders. They seemed to be engaged in a game that both of them found equally hilarious. Emmett would gently pull out a bronze ringlet between his thumb and forefinger and when it sprang back into place he would say "Boing!" Nessie would then reciprocate by pulling one of Emmett's small dark curls, "Boing!" she would sing before exploding into giggles causing Emmett's booming laughter to join in with her own. Once the giggles had subsided she would raise a perfect pearlescent hand to Emmett's face to say "again! again!"_

_Edward and Bella watched from a large ornate bench that Esme had carved out of one single, very large, tree trunk last year, the detail was an exquisite and ornate expanded replica of the pattern on the locket Bella had given Ness on her first Christmas. Having used tools for only the bare minimum of the project, Esme had carved most of the detail using her own fingernails, she was pretty cool like that. _

_Edward lay on the bench with his feet dangling over the end and his head resting on Bella's lap as she absentmindedly outlined his jawbone with the very tips of her alabaster fingers._

_Sunlight threw multicoloured reflections from the vampires diamond skin, I remembered when I had found this site repulsive but it was simply normal now, I could even call it pretty._

I ran harder, widening my search area. I would find her or I would die trying. I had no idea where the fuck this place was. There was some sort of half ruined city in the distance but something had told me she wasn't there. I'd been searching this massive, sprawling forest for days, taking in weird scents of plants I'd never seen before that bloomed under a sun that seemed a little more orangey than the one I remembered.

Again, my mind assaulted me with memories of her ethereal face. I called up the last one I had of her, hoping to see something I hadn't the last hundred times I had replayed it in my head.

"_I smell forest" She told me as her eyelashes fluttered against my fingers. _

"_Smell all you want" I told her "Just don't peek."_

_She huffed a little but I could feel her face pulling up into a smile and I could hear her heart thumping in excitement._

"_Ready?" I asked nervously_

"_As I'll ever be."_

_I gingerly removed my hands from her eyes and she gasped._

"_Oh Jake it's beautiful! Did you build this yourself?"_

"_With my own two hands."_

_She stared in wonder at the little one bedroom cabin I had built in the Alaskan forest. It looked like an honest to goodness gingerbread house, complete with surrounding snow covered trees and best of all, not a soul for miles._

_She turned, threw her arms around my neck and kissed me. Her soft lips were like a drug, full and delicious. As they brushed against my own I felt my breath hitch in my throat._

_I broke the kiss before my body started having its typical reaction to being in close proximity to her. Her cheeks were flushed and she was gently biting on her bottom lip._

_I swept her legs from beneath her and picked her up bridal style. "Come on beautiful, I'm gonna give you the grand tour."_

_I started towards the door but paused as I felt Ness float into my mind like a summer breeze "Show me the bedroom first". I looked into her face to find her gazing at me intently, her eyes burned with a heat I could almost feel._

_She didn't need to tell me twice. _

_Half a second later I had laid her gently onto the queen sized extra long bed. She pulled me down on top of her and crushed her lips to mine._

_Images flicked through my head; me touching her, my hands roving over her smooth body, very graphic scenes from the last time we had made love._

_I groaned at the familiar ache she made me feel and heard her laugh gently as she ground her hips into me. My breathing was ragged. Trembling hands fought with the buttons on her cotton summer dress. Her heartbeat was making the fabric quiver._

_Another image; me ripping the dress off. I hesitated to oblige, since we'd gotten together I'd ruined more of her clothes in the heat of the moment than I had my own before I could control my phasing._

_Too late! She sensed my hesitation and ripped it off herself, taking her bra with it._ Oh god_._

_I growled in my throat and took one breast into my mouth, sucking gently and circling her nipple with my tongue while I kneaded the other in my hand, brushing my thumb softly over the tightening skin._

_She arched her back and gasped, forcing more of her into my mouth. I throbbed and jerked, my pants were becoming unbelievably uncomfortable. I was desperate to be inside her but loving the sweet anticipation._

_She lifted her head and grazed my earlobe with her razor edged teeth, she was so gentle it only tickled. Inching her head forward she breathed into my ear and began to whisper to me "My sweet Jacob. Don't hold back. I was made for you."_

_Shivers ran down my spine as I absorbed her words and understood their meaning._

_I nibbled on her collar bone, silently wondering how such impenetrable skin could be so soft and warm. I could see her pulse racing at her neck as tiny moans of pleasure escaped her lips._

_Her hands slid down my chest and she began to unbutton my jeans. I had my shirt off in a millisecond and it joined my pants and shorts in a pile somewhere behind me. Her panties followed momentarily._

_She wrapped her legs around my waist and I pressed against her, she was wet and trembling for me. She breezed through my mind again, showing me how she ached for me, how much she wanted me but she didn't have to show me, I already knew what she wanted and how she wanted it._

_I dug my hands underneath her and cupped her firm buttocks before lifting her with me as I stood._

_Her legs gripped me tighter as she rubbed against me and she kissed me again. The kiss was hard and hungry. I wasn't going to last much longer._

_I slammed her into the wall and felt it shudder against the combined force of our bodies._ So that's what Jasper had meant when he told me to reinforce the walls with solid concrete_._

_I buried my head in her neck. Kissing and nibbling and licking as she ground her hips against me harder and harder, begging me to enter her._

_I couldn't resist any more. I lifted her and lowered her slowly onto me. We gasped simultaneously as I slid further into her, inch by inch._

_She showed me how good it felt and I almost lost it right there. Feeling what she felt whilst feeling what I felt was sensory overload. Signals shot between my mind and body faster than I could process and the pressure was building inside me, bringing me closer and closer to the edge._

_I growled and moaned and gasped, telling her how good she felt, how much I wanted her, how much I would always want her. Faster and faster I thrust into her, slamming her repeatedly into the wall and all the while she told me "Harder" "Faster" "Don't stop" in a voice thick with need and want until finally it was just indecipherable sounds of pleasure and I felt her clench around me._

_As I felt her orgasm I couldn't take it anymore. I came with her, harder than I'd ever come before. It was so intense my eyes watered._

_I carried her to the bed, still inside her and laid her back down as aftershocks racked through her body and mine._

_She had a sheen of sweat over her pale face. Her chocolate eyes shone and the most contented smile played at the corners of her mouth._

_I felt, as I looked at her, that everything I had experienced, everything that had ever happened in my life had lead me to Renesmee. I was lying in bed next to the most perfect creature on the planet and she was mine. Her sweet words ran through my head once more;_ I was made for you_._

_We lay together for ten minutes, smiling like a couple of idiots while we got our breath back and let our hearts slowed._

"_Do you hear that?" She asked suddenly_

_I strained my ears but couldn't pick up any sounds other than the occasional bird or animal._

"_Hear what?"_

_She rolled over impossibly fast and rested her chin on my chest, an impish grin lit her features and a single bronze ringlet stuck to the side of her face. "Exactly." she replied, wiggling her eyebrows._

_We spent the rest of the day pretty much solely in the bedroom, we didn't even unpack the car till the sun had sank well below the horizon and it was abso-fucking-lutely awesome._

_Whoever said that it's possible to have too much sex was sadly mistaken. Most probably because they weren't a shifter and their girlfriend wasn't an inexhaustible vampire hybrid._

_As I tucked into one of the massive lasagnes Esme had packed for me I listened to Nessie shower. She was singing one of my favourite songs, a classic by the Kings of Leon._

_She came out wearing black silk slacks and a matching top with spaghetti straps, somehow it made her pearlescent skin look even paler and the rose flush to her cheeks all the more beautiful._

"_You all done there champ?" She asked as she eyed the empty foil tray._

_I patted my full stomach "Oh yeah and it was goooood!"_

_She rolled her eyes and shook her head as she squashed the foil effortlessly into a tiny foil ball and dropped it into the trash._

"_Fancy a run? I'm kinda hungry."_

_Despite being shirtless and shoeless I was out the door in a second and snow melted under my feet as I raced Nessie through the woods._

_She powered ahead of me effortlessly, I was no match for her on two legs, especially not when she was on the scent of something tasty like the elk I'd just picked up a whiff of._

_When we were close enough to hear it she dropped into a hunting crouch, she took on feline grace when she hunted and I hung back slightly so as not to get in her way._

_She flew through the air silently as she pounced on the Elk, bringing it down with no effort. She buried her mouth in it's neck and had drained it within a few seconds. It didn't struggle._

_Everything after that happened so fast I could barely register it._

_Two shadowy figures literally emerged out of nowhere as Ness wiped her mouth. I saw her muscles bunch in anticipation of moving from them but in the next second her body went limp._

_The shadowy figures grabbed her as I darted forwards, impossible heat building within me as my body prepared to phase. I controlled the heat, willing myself not to phase with the knowledge that I couldn't grab her with no arms. _

_I crashed into the shadows holding Ness and wrapped my arms around her just as a blinding blue bubble of light formed around us. It crackled and hissed with energy before closing in around us._

_I felt such extreme pressure come at me from all angles that I thought my body was going to collapse under it. But still I held on. There was a painfully loud roaring noise and I felt as though by body were being ripped out of existence._

_The forest outside of the blue light melted around us before being replaced by another, much denser one and then the blue light disappeared. _

_I was so disoriented that I couldn't see or hear. My senses had been ripped away from me and I immediately felt the need to vomit, but I was determined not to let go of Nessie's limp body._

_I felt the air in front of me move before, what must have been a steel toed boot, collided with my groin in an indescribable torrent of pain. _

_Grunting, I went down like a sack of crap, which is exactly what I felt like when I realised in the same moment that I'd let go of Nessie._

_I rolled over through the pain and willed my body to get up but sharp pain bloomed in my chest, replacing the excruciating throb between my legs. I couldn't see or hear anything but man could I feel. Pain washed over me in sickening waves and I could feel warm liquid pouring down from my chest. Blood. Fuck._

_Another wave of pain exploded from my chest out wards and then another and then I couldn't move any more. I lay there, deaf and dumb and blind and bleeding for what felt like an eternity before I blacked out._

_I drifted in and out of consciousness for days as my body tried to heal itself. Eventually I woke up feeling like I had a truck sitting on my chest, I also realised that at some point during the healing process my body had phased to speed my recovery._

_I tried to piece together what had happened as I focused on phasing back. I remembered the shadows coming alive and grabbing Nessie. I remembered the blinding blue light that had surrounded me and I remembered some fucker kicking me in the nuts, shooting me in the chest and taking away the reason for my existence as I lay there, blind and deaf and writhing in pain._

_Anger burned inside me, building into pure rage and I realised I didn't _want _to phase back. Instead I embraced my form as I decided I was going to find Nessie and I was going to find the ones who took her and I was going to rip their beating hearts from their shadowy chests._

_I declared war on Nessie's abductors as a roar tore through my chest, overriding all pain and sending birds screaming from their roosts above._

I brought myself back to the present. My furred feet flew through an alien forest that grew under an alien sun and I repeated my silent mantra over and over as I searched and sniffed.

_I'm coming Renesmee. I'll find you._


	8. Chapter 8

**I am not Stephenie Meyer. I do not own the Twilight Saga.**

**I'm really sorry it's been a while since my last update, but this chapter is nice and long to make up for it.**

**I sincerely hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.**

As I ran through the forest my heart thrummed with nervous energy. Dappled sunlight shone through the canopy of leaves overhead and Jacob's footfalls thumped quickly behind me.

In the next second, everything had changed.

I stopped running, realising that something was horribly, horribly wrong.

The healthy yellow light of the sun turned into a diseased and sickly orange that contained no warmth.

The once-stationary shadows of the trees came alive and slithered towards me. I shouted for Jacob and tried to run but my legs would no longer move, held in place by an alien command so powerful it overrode my own synaptic signals.

The shadows edged closer and began groping me with oily, dark hands. I tried to recoil from their touch, crying out for my protector and guardian, whimpering for my Jake.

He was there in the next moment, his arms wrapped around me with iron strength but the shadow shrouded hands clawed and scratched at him and I felt his reassuring embrace becoming looser.

Suddenly all I could see was a blinding electric blue light, it melted the forest and filled my ears with deafening silence.

Tears streamed down my face as the light closed in around my paralysed body.

Once again, I screamed.

I awoke to bedroom carnage. My sheets were ripped and twisted intricately around my limbs, no doubt a result of some nocturnal thrashing on my part. On top of that I was absolutely boiling, sweat plastered stray ringlets to my forehead and I seemed to be panting. I wondered what I'd been dreaming about to get me so...._frenzied_.

I cried again, mourning the loss of my dream. Knowing it had been something significant, trying to grasp it and feeling as though I were closing my fist around water. My tears of sorrow became tears of frustration as I agonized over how my mind could show me things in my sleep and not let me keep them once I awoke. Then my tears of frustration became tears of anger that I violently wiped away. I became furious with myself at having become some sort of weeping mess whenever I was left alone. Crying would not help me regain my memory.

I wiped away the last of my tears and disentangled myself from my cotton tethers. Once free, I rolled over and glowing green numbers told me it was 6:24.

I showered, dressed and was stood, eyeing my bed wreckage by 6:40.

A loud buzzing noise caused me to start so hard that I actually jumped high enough to slam the crown of my head into, what I could only assume was, a steel enforced ceiling. Fantastic.

I landed in a feline crouch as I twisted and turned my head to find the source of the noise.

_BZZZZZZZZTTT!_ When it came again I was ready and whipped my head round to see it coming from the palm unit next to my door. I rose from my crouch, padded over and placed my hand on the pad.

The door whooshed open to reveal Maya standing in the doorway, grinning.

"Morning! I thought you might still be asleep so I came to give you a wake up call. Although it looks like you're an early riser just like me." The words came out of her in a non-stop string. She wasn't joking about being a morning person.

"Thanks Maya" I said, getting a mouthful of her scent as I spoke. It set the painful burn off again.

It actually felt worse than it had the day before and I felt a pang of worry deep in my belly as I realised I was going to have to seriously distract myself in order to put the feeling to the back of my mind.

Maya leaned around me and gasped. "What in seven shades of fuck happened to your bed?!"

"I just woke up and it was like that." I replied dumbly.

She raised her eyebrows and whistled "You must've been having some serious nightmares."

"Actually I don't think it was a nightmare…although I can't actually remember." I felt another wave of frustration crash over me as I tried to grasp onto my dream.

A look of sympathy flashed momentarily over Maya's features before it was replaced by a look of vague amusement.

"Apparently I curse like a pirate in my sleep."

"Really? And that would be different to when you're awake how?"

She giggled "No, I literally curse like a pirate. My brother woke me up one time, telling me that I'd just been screaming at the top of my voice, calling him the scurvy- ridden whoreson of a bilge rat! I don't even know what the fuck a bilge rat is!"

I looked at her and blinked several times before laughing so hard that if I'd had anything in my bladder, I'm pretty sure I would have peed myself.

***

As the door to the mess hall slid open I was greeted with a maelstrom of scents. There was coffee, food, soap and some scents I couldn't quite place, along with one scent I most certainly could.

Crane's syrupy odour invaded my nostrils and clung to the back of my throat. I'd forgotten how odd he smelled.

I walked into the hall and was surprised to find it more crowded than I had ever seen.

Tobin and Nestor sat on a squashy looking couch watching the massive TV. Torrin sat at the breakfast bar holding a tall steaming mug of inky black coffee, she had deep purple shadows under her eyes, as though she hadn't slept a wink, which I thought was odd considering Maya had told me she had gotten an early night.

Crane sat next to Torrin, dressed in khakis and a casual shirt, he was drinking tea from an elegant china cup.

Two identical massive guys with dark chocolate skin were sitting on the other side of the breakfast bar and munching their way through what I'm pretty sure was the entire contents of the double-door refrigerator.

Another man, with brown dreadlocks that brushed his shoulders sat on the other side of Torrin. I knew immediately that this must be Maya's brother, the skin tone and eye colour were exactly the same as hers and thus a massive give away.

Hard core rap music was playing over hidden speakers. I blocked it out, having absolutely no intention of hearing how many "prissy whore bitches" had performed acts of oral pleasure for the rapper.

There was a lot I didn't know about myself but I was pretty certain I was not a fan of rap music.

All eyes turned to me as I entered, it was like a parody of a saloon scene from an old western movie. I'm sure if there'd been a jovial piano player in the corner of the room he would have stopped playing to gawk at me. As it turns out, the "Big Mack Daddy Cheez" CD didn't notice my entry and continued playing.

Crane was the first to break the silence. He smiled warmly at me before offering me coffee.

The simple gesture seemed to quell everyone's curiosity, although I noticed Tobin and Nestor were trying a little to hard to ignore me.

Crane patted the seat next to him whilst beaming at me as though my arrival had been the best thing to happen to him this morning. "Take a seat."

As I moved across the room Crane addressed everyone else "Everyone else go and get changed, we'll join you shortly."

There was no argument or question, just scraping chairs, squeaking springs and shuffling feet.

Crane waited until it was just him and me until he spoke.

"How did you sleep?"

"Fine, thanks."

"Has anything come back to you?"

"Not really."

He looked thoughtful "Well I've spoken with Torrin and she's going to have a couple of one on one sessions with you to try and help you regain your memory. She understands the mind very well."

I suddenly remembered Maya's little show the night before "Maya said that everyone here is special, that they all have gifts."

A nerve twitched under Crane's eye but other than that his face remained suspiciously blank.

"That's correct, each individual that just vacated this room has a special gift. I won't explain the mechanics of it just now but one of my main reasons for building this facility and keeping it hidden is to maintain the safety and wellbeing of those kids."

Remembering the information he had given me yesterday, I asked "Does Humber know about them?"

Crane looked at me with approval in his eyes.

"Yes. On the night he destroyed my building in Central city he also tried to abduct the kids. He failed. Only managing to escape with the technology that brought you here. Evidently the technology was not his main priority as I had previously thought, seeing as he merely used it to travel to your world and take you."

"Do you think everyone where I come from is like me?"

He sighed "I honestly don't know. Hopefully it is a question you will be able to answer yourself if Torrin is able to help you."

Hope sparked within me. If Torrin had some sort of mental gift then my memories could be within my reach. I thrilled at the prospect of understanding and self knowledge – promising myself that if I got them back I would never take them for granted again.

"When will I have my first session?"

"Tonight. After dinner. Which reminds me, have you eaten since our meal together?"

My cheeks flamed faintly and I hesitated to answer, suddenly feeling as though telling him I had not eaten would disappoint and concern him.

"Yes." I lied

Crane leaned closer, wafting a lungful of his saccharine my way. I expected to feel the familiar burn in my throat but it didn't seem to come.

"Hmmm" Was all he said before leaning back again. "Well I'd like you to eat something before you join us in the training room. I've also left your training gear over there." He gestured to section of the kitchen surface that had a small dark folded pile sitting on it.

He made a move to get up and I panicked slightly, causing me to blurt out something that had been bothering me since last night "When can I go outside?"

Ever since Torrin had told me the Hub was situated underground I had felt a pressing sense of claustrophobia all around me. I was very aware that there was never a breeze, never an open window and a tiny voice in the back of my head kept telling me that standing outside and feeling the wind tickle the tiny hairs on my arms would somehow ease the urges I kept having for people's blood.

Crane froze and turned towards me painfully slowly. "I'm so sorry but that is yet another question I cannot answer just yet."

My face fell.

"You must understand that Humber will have people looking for you and if he abducted you once before then what is to say he will not do it again, given the chance?"

I didn't answer, so he continued to attempt to justify my imprisonment.

"Humber is capable of anything and I would never forgive myself if something happened to you."

I looked him in the eye and stuck my chin out "I'm strong. I wont let anyone take me." I said.

Crane smiled sadly "That did not deter him the first time though, did it?" He reached out and brushed the back of my pale hand with his fingertips.

I took a deep breath to calm the swirling emotion that was building within me and realised that Crane was right, he was only looking out for me.

I smiled apprehensively at him and was rewarded with a widening of his own lips. "I do not wish for you to be a prisoner here Ness. So I will find a way for you to go outside safely. Please be patient with me."

He rose to leave once more and I let him.

***

The training room was akin to an aircraft hanger. The ceiling was at least forty feet high, with steel beams arcing across to create a slightly domed effect. Harsh lighting shone down on grey walls that had padding stretched across the lower ten feet and the floor felt slightly springy underfoot.

Upon closer inspection I noticed dinner plate sized holes dotted randomly across the bare walls above the padding. There were also several sophisticated cameras watching over us.

The others were already stretching and warming up but I simply stood there, in my black stretchy cat suit and matching fingerless gloves that had tiny little metallic nodules all over them.

Crane had retreated to an observation room on another level so I had navigated the winding corridors to the room alone, thoughts whirling around like a tornado in my head.

Torrin and Maya were chatting with one another, or rather Maya was aiming an endless stream of conversation in Torrin's general direction whilst they did lunges. Torrin seemed to be concentrating on something else entirely. A faraway look claimed her stormy eyes.

The two massive guys who'd been eating enough food to feed a third world county were sparring with each other, their blows connecting only gently and yet sounding like rock hitting rock. I wondered what their 'gifts' were.

Maya's brother was staring at me intently whilst pulling one arm taught across his body. I found it a little unnerving and dropped my eyes immediately.

I could smell them all, hear their pumping hearts and thrumming pulses. The ache in my throat spread down my chest and ended in a gentle but white hot and acidic burning in my stomach. It was incredibly uncomfortable but I was noticing that as long as I tried not to think about it, it was not intolerable.

I wondered briefly where Nestor and Tobin were before simultaneously sensing, hearing and smelling their approach behind me.

I assumed my unimpressed face and turned towards them.

Tobin's eyes once again raked over my body and I felt exposed in the clinging black fabric. Nestor's look was much the same, but he seemed to leer more. I found his scent mildly offensive, it caused me to feel as though something shining and black with a thousand legs was crawling down my spine. I resisted the urge to shake myself like a wet dog.

"You're little display yesterday was impressive Newbie. But you're in my world now, I make the rules in this room." Tobin said, as he gestured around himself with open arms.

Nestor said nothing, merely choosing to back up his friend by snickering in a very oily manner.

I decided not to respond. Choosing instead to turn my back and walk away.

Maya grinned and waved at me as I made my way over to her. I heard the two assholes behind me muttering empty threats to each other and sighed.

"They giving you any more trouble?" Maya asked.

"Nah, just a bit of big talk." I said whilst smirking.

Maya grinned again "Did you get the 'I make the rules' speech?" Her slender fingers moved to form air quotation marks and her voice dropped several octaves in a surprising accurate imitation of Tobin's voice.

Before I could respond I heard several hidden speakers crackle before Crane's voice boomed over us "We will be starting in 5 minutes. You will receive no further warning."

The speakers crackled once more before becoming silent again.

"I want Ness on my team." Maya piped up first.

Tobin snorted before issuing his scathing reply "My game, my rules dumbass. I don't tell you how to plant flowers.

'I've set the programme, there will be no teams. It's every man for himself." He shot me a wicked grin before telling everyone to assume their positions. I noticed that Maya's brother was looking daggers at Tobin and wondered what his gift was - he looked like in that moment he wished it was to melt peoples faces with a single death stare.

People moved off to different spaces in the massive room, eyes darting from hole to hole on the walls.

I stayed where I was, figuring if everyone else was moving away from me then I already had my own space.

Seconds later a very disconcerting series of whirs and clicks began to issue from the walls. My eyes followed the noises but I could see nothing.

I expected the entire room to transform into some sort of giant killer robot and bunched my muscles in preparation to dodge whatever razor-edged, mechanical weapon he might throw my way.

Turns out I wasn't too far from the truth when one of the walls behind me spat out a black, rubber ball covered in the same tiny metallic nodules as my gloves. It was aimed directly for the back of my head.

It had been shot at such a speed that it seemed to whistle through the air.

I didn't turn, I simply moved my body to the side in a smooth motion. The ball was fast, but I was faster.

It whizzed past my head, missing me by a foot and shooting straight at Torrin, who was so busy watching me that she was unable to get out of the way fast enough.

I heard the empty _thoink_ sound of the rubberised ball bouncing off her starlight locks. I heard the little _oof_ that escaped her lips as her skull recoiled from the blow and then I watched her levitate several feet from the floor with an extremely pissed off expression on her face. "Aw _crap_." she mumbled as she hung there.

I couldn't watch her for long though, as balls started shooting out of the walls all over the room.

"Cheese it!" One of the guys shouted before everyone jolted into motion.

I tracked zooming balls bouncing all over the hangar-sized room.

One ricoched off the floor and hit Maya between her shoulder blades just as she had turned her body to avoid another. Her whole body froze, she was literally as stiff as a board and went down face fist onto the springy floor.

I felt the impact of Torrin landing on the floor a second later. She absorbed the fall into bent legs, then immediately straightened and ran. She seemed more alert now.

The dark skinned twins stood back to back at the other end of the room from me. I noticed they had ignored Tobin's speech about every man for himself and were working together to eliminate the other players by catching the balls that flew towards them and throwing them at everyone else.

The one on the right was aiming for Tobin, who seemed to press something on his wrist whenever a ball got close that made it somehow miss him. He was grinning maniacally as the massive guy continued to lob balls from his gloved hands with increasing force.

The guy on the left however seemed to be aiming his balls at people's shadows. Either that or he was a very poor shot.

I dodged left and right. I jumped high in the air and slithered low on the ground to avoid the wicked projectiles whilst the other players around me got hit with balls that electrocuted them, paralysed them, flipped them up in the air, repeatedly slammed into their heads seemingly of their own free will (one of the big guys got that one, I had to bite my lip to stop myself laughing out loud.) and all sorts of other crazy things.

Whilst all the action claimed my attention I had failed to notice that Nestor was nowhere to be seen.

It was a mistake I swore not to make again after the occurrences in that room.

My eyes were darting around me, keeping track of both people and balls when Crane's voice came over the speakers and said two words that seemed to make everyone in the room gulp at the same time.

"RED BALL!"

Everyone looked around wildly, muscles tensed and ready to spring into action.

I heard the clicking and whirring of the walls once more and followed the sound, two seconds later and angry looking red ball was spat out and hurtled straight towards Maya's brother.

He seemed to turn in slow motion towards the ball. His face was calm as he held up a gloved-hand in the universal 'stop' motion. The ball did not stop, it simply bounced off his palm harmlessly.

"Spoilsport" Tobin muttered before flicking his gaze my way.

The clockwork walls once again whirled into motion and another red ball was ejected from the hole directly opposite my face.

As I tensed my muscles in preparation for evasion, my eyes were caught by my shadow. It was moving oddly, like it was a millisecond out of sync with my body. About to shift my body out of the path of the oncoming projectile, I gasped as my shadow moved around me in an impossible manner before reaching out a black hand and grabbing me sharply by the ankle.

I knew immediately it was Nestor, I was struck by Maya's voice in my memory _"__I think you definitely have super senses if you can hear a shadow creep up on you"_ So that explained what his gift was. That's why he was able to seemingly appear out of nowhere in the mess hall, I also felt that somehow it explained the inky, oily quality he had.

Something else niggled me in that moment, something about being grabbed by shadow. It felt strangely like déjà vu.

My thoughts flicked through my head quicker than that of any human and barely a second had passed when my thoughts came back to the situation at hand.

Nestor's head had begun to take form, rising from the springy floor like a matte, black balloon.

Without even having to think about it I caught the ball with one nodular-hand, brought my arm around in an arc and slammed the red ball into what I hoped was his forehead.

It lingered at the point of contact, as though glued there. Nestor became fully solid instantly, writhing and screaming on the floor. A dark patch appeared on the crotch of his pants and I smelled the acrid stench of urine.

The ball rolled off his forehead to bounce gently away from him as he laid there, panting and soaked in his own piss. Unable to move his head, his eyes swivelled towards me, revealing too much of the white around them and giving them a decidedly insane look.

Torrin was at my side, I hadn't heard her approach. "Don't be a bitch about it Nestor. Go get cleaned up." She said before turning to address me.

"Pain ball." She said matter of factly "Stimulates all the pain receptors in the brain at once. Only for a second but it's enough to make you piss your pants." She looked pointedly to the mess on the floor.

"They move faster and they're heavier than the other balls so they're harder to catch. No one has ever done it one handed." She said with raised eyebrows.

I didn't know what to say so remained silent, aware that it was becoming a habit of mine.

All eyes were on me once again until Torrin addressed everyone "OK people, five minutes and then round two."

She looked up to one of the cameras and nodded before turning back to me again.

"You ready for round two Ness?"

I felt the warmth in my muscles from the exercise I had just done. I was not sweating, or panting like the others. I felt good.

"Bring it on." I replied.

**I hope you enjoyed this chapter. It would be awesome if you took a couple of minutes to review!!**

**Massive thanks to everyone who is currently following this story – your support means the world to me.**


	9. Chapter 9

**I am not Stephenie Meyer. I do not own the rights to any of her creations.**

The rest of the day passed in a blur. There was more dodge ball, prolonged hurdles (during which the floor of the training room moved like a giant treadmill while different sized hurdles popped up. The hurdles did unpleasant things to any part of the body that touched them.) and various other exercises that tested both mind and body.

I wasn't smug that I excelled in everything. It earned me plenty of angered looks and made me feel like a complete freak.

I tried eating again at dinner, managing a few tiny bites of the tasteless food whilst the sound of everyone's blood pumping threatened to deafen me. I removed myself from their company to shower, change and prepare for meeting with Torrin.

The time alone was blissfull and yet torturous. It was so good to be away from the scents of the others, from the wet thumping of their hearts and the sweet temptation of their blood. But equally, being left alone with my thoughts let to me having a near panic attack as worries threatened to drown me. I worried that I was a monster, that I would never get my memory back, that this rampant thirst I was feeling would send me insane and that if I did not get out of this place soon I might hurt someone. For a brief second I felt like it was all too much, that everything that had happened and that everything I had found out about myself and the world I was in was a weight on me that I could not lift.

I pushed it all deep down inside. I would not be crushed by my own thoughts and fears, I would conquer them.

My first session with Torrin proved to be fruitless and left me feeling more frustrated than before.

Torrin seemed to gain just as much dissatisfaction as I did from the dead end, a strained look would pass over her face every time I tried unsuccessfully to beat down the mental barriers that closed off my memory from me.

When the time came for everyone to retire for the night, I laid in bed searching my mind for an echo of the lullaby that had soothed me the night before. However I was too tired, so sleep claimed me without the help of the angelic voice.

When the dream world bloomed around me again I embraced it with open arms, slotting myself easily into a memory that would retreat once I awoke.

***

I sat on the edge of my bed with my legs crossed and my knees poking off the side. Leah sat behind me, gently braiding my hair and my mom sat on the floor with her head resting on one of my bent knees.

Alice, Jasper, Emmett and Rose had all gone hunting. Carlisle was at work. Esme was gardening. The rest of the pack were at the store replenishing their mammoth food stock and Jake and my Dad were having a 'civilised chat' in Carlisle's heavily soundproofed study.

"Do you think they've killed each other?" I asked no one in particular.

Leah chuckled heartily "Nah we would have heard that, Jacob whines like a little girl when he gets his ass kicked."

I rolled my eyes and inhaled to speak before being cut off by my mom "Your father and Jacob have become great friends since your birth sweetie, give them a little credit."

I rolled my eyes "Yeah. OK mom but let's just remember what they were fighting about before they became so chummy."

My mom had given me her journals to read when I had turned seven. She'd told me she'd written them for me not long after I was born, wanting me to know the truth about how I came to be, from her. Mom was always awesome like that, never treating me like an idiot.

"I want you to read them all in one go." She told me "You can ask me anything you like once you've read it all."

I'd read all of the leather bound journals within twenty four hours. I'd laughed and cried and sat on the edge of my seat and at the end of it all I understood.

It had taken me a while to wrap my head around almost everyone wanting to kill me before I was even born. Especially my Jacob.

But I couldn't deny the genuine love I felt from my family towards me and I would not shun it because they had been afraid of the unknown.

I hadn't realised until after our first kiss, when Jacob allowed me to read his own journals that my mom had edited hers to be a little more child friendly and she had kind of lied about the nature of Jacobs imprinting, writing that he would only ever be there for me in a guardian and friend capacity.

I'd understood the reasons. I wasn't ready to know at that point and everyone wanted to give me freedom of choice. I wasn't selfish, childish or ignorant enough not to see the love and logic in their reasoning.

Besides, everything had worked out in the end.

Leah was the only one who had taken time to win over. She was stubborn in her hate for me, seeing me as a link to the very thing that brought about the werewolf change, stripping her normality and taking away her love, Sam. The anger that boiled inside her had been difficult to quell, but I'm hard to resist – as anyone who has met me will tell you.

I remembered the day she gave up trying to hate me so much.

At a year old, I sat in the garden of the pack house with Jake. Leah was inside cooking. She had greeted me stiffly as Jake brought me in because, as Jacob's Beta, she was mature enough to tolerate my presence. But of course, I knew she didn't like it.

I kept raising my hand to Jake's face, telling him over and over that I wanted to play with his wolf. He gently refused at first but as usual, I won him over with a little persistence and a lot of eyelash batting....there may have been a little whining too.

Not wanting to leave me in the garden alone, he had moved only several feet away from me and promptly shredded his clothes in an explosion of rusty fur. I giggled and clapped my hands as he padded back to me and shoved his cold black nose into the side of my neck.

He sat down on his haunches, planting himself in front of me. His tail swished back and forth over the grass as I wondered at his lupine form.

I stroked the short smooth hairs along his nose then lifted and flapped his jowls to reveal gleaming white, sythelike teeth and getting a whiff of dog-breath in the process.

Jake stayed utterly still as I played with his face, his eyes held eternal patience and he hummed deep in his chest. A sound that was an inexplicable comfort to me.

I ran a finger up the line of his snout and over the dome of his head before moving on to his ears.

They stuck out of his head, twitching and rotating like pyramid-shaped satellite dishes. I stood, stroking them for a full two minutes. Utterly transfixed by the feel of the downy fur beneath my fingers. Jake closed his eyes lazily, clearly enjoying the sensation.

I heard the back door open and Leah came outside with a bulging trash bag hanging from her closed fist and a dishtowel slung over her shoulder. She dumped the bag, but instead of heading straight back inside, she paused in the doorway, watching the interaction between me and my wolf.

Jake pressed his wet nose to my forehead and opened his mouth into a grin, his tongue lolling to the side.

I felt his head shift and immediately knew he was about to drag his sopping tongue right upside my head, so I did the first thing that came to mind as a deterrant.

I turned my head, lightning fast, and blew sharply straight up his nose.

He jerked his head back and wiggled his snout. I heard several sharp intakes of breath before he sneezed right in my face.

As I snapped my head back, recoiling from the spray, I was struck with the irony that my knee jerk reaction to avoid getting a face full of slobber had lead to getting a face full of wolf snot instead.

The shock caused me to stumble backwards, falling hard onto my butt. Jake whined and moved towards me while I sat there blinking in shock, silent.

Leah's laughter erupted so suddenly it caused both Jake and myself to start. Having a wolf the size of a bear sneeze in my face had been a shock, but hearing Leah laugh blew that right out of the water.

I had never heard her laugh before except in a biting and sarcastic way. The sound was throaty and musical. I turned my head towards her and simply stared at her as tears streamed down her face and she clutched at her quaking sides.

Only Jacob's warning growl managed to pry my attention from Leah. I turned to him, "Shhhh, don't make her stop. It's beautiful." I told him.

Her laughter died after I spoke and I turned back to see her looking at me with something I had never seen in her eyes before. Tenderness and shock.

She walked over to me in a trancelike manner, pulling the dishtowel from her shoulder whilst never taking her eyes from me. Jake immediately placed himself between us, teeth bared, tail erect and ears forward as his low warning growl made the grass quiver around him.

Leah stopped moving and dropped her eyes submissively but I placed a hand on Jake's russet pelt and asked him to move aside.

He obliged, slowly and never taking his eyes from Leah.

She moved forward cautiously. I could hear her heart pounding in her chest. I could smell her apprehension.

She knelt before me in a controlled manner and began to wipe the goo from my cheeks with a strange expression on her face.

Leah had never been this close before, she had never touched me and never allowed me to touch her. Thus denying me the opportunity to share my gift with her.

In that instant though, I took my chance and reached out to cup her smooth cheek with a hand that looked ghostly pale in comparison.

She gasped and froze at my touch but did not move away. I gave her a full blast of my gift.

I showed her that I thought she was beautiful, that when I saw her in wolf form I longed to feather my hands through her silvery fur. I showed her the confusion I felt when she looked at me with such hate, but I also showed her that I didn't care if she hated me. She had protected me from the nightmare that was the Volturi when the time had come and I loved her for it. Finally, I showed her how spectacular I thought the sound of her laugh was and that in that single moment, I would have done anything to hear it again.

When I finally took my hand away it was wet with Leah's tears. She was looking at me as though she were seeing me for the first time. It was not like when Jake saw me for the first time. It was different, this moment belonged to Leah and I.

She blinked several times before a business-like look came over her. "Come on snotty, let's get you cleaned up while Jacob phases back to apologise."

She scooped me up into her arms effortlessly and carried me into the house.

Jake walked past her and shook his head, I could almost hear him thinking "Women."

The relationship between Leah and I had slowly grown since that day. I still wasn't sure exactly what it was that made her have the change of heart but I think it was more than just my projection that did it. I think she was tired of hating so much, of being so angry all the time.

The present Leah spoke, breaking my vision of her past self.

"Do you think Edward's telling him to keep the snake in the cage till she's eighteen?" she snorted.

Both my mom and I gave her death stares but she simply laughed them off, safe in the knowledge that she was probably right.

I gave my mom a pleading look, "Please Mom, tell me they're not having _that_ conversation."

"Edward's just laying out a couple of ground rules, that's all." She said in an attempt to placate me.

Leah gently tugged at my hair and whispered "Told ya." into my ear.

I groaned and threw my arms up in exasperation. "I don't want restrictions on our relationship." I whined.

"Well I'm sorry sweetie but no matter how adult you might feel, you're still young and inexperienced in the ways of the world and your father and I just want to make sure that you have all the experiences you should before settling down into an adult life."

"Oh, you mean like repeating high school thirteen or fourteen times?"

My mom pouted her lips slightly whilst raising her eyebrows, it was her 'You think you're such a smart ass' look.

"I just mean that despite your mind and body being approximately nineteen. You are still only nine years old. You have all the theory sweetheart but hardly any of the practice."

I grimaced "Well how am I going to get the experience if you and dad keep slapping restrictions on everything?"

Mom's eyebrows climbed higher on her porcelain forehead.

"We're not restricting anything, I believe I used the term ground rules." She corrected me.

Before I could argue further I heard my dad and Jacob emerge from Carlisle's study.

"I'm glad we spoke about this." My dad's smooth tones wafted to my ears.

"Sure, sure. No problems Eddie." Jake replied. I knew Dad hated it when Jake called him that, but refused to say anything except "Well it's better than dirty bloodsucking leech."

I found it funny that my mother had often portrayed my father as brooding, stoic and quick to anger in her journals. The Edward Cullen I knew was almost always smiling, patient and had a wonderful sense of humour. My dad told me often how happy Mom and I made him and I was always quick to tell him the feeling was mutual.

My family were crazy and abnormal, even for vampires apparently, but I loved every single one as much as they loved me and we shared that with one another often.

I could wish for a normal human life all I wanted but I wouldn't really mean it. In fact I was pretty sure that there were plenty of humans out there who would wish for my vampire life - I wouldn't blame them.

I heard Jake's footsteps approach my room before he appeared in my doorway with my father standing just behind him. I used to feel embarrassed about my reaction to Jake's presence but I'd quickly stopped caring.

My heartrate immediately increased, sending a rose blush to my cheeks. An idiot's grin spread across my face and I was unable to take my eyes away from his.

The best thing about all this was that he had exactly the same look on his face as I did. I was overwhelmed with images of being wrapped in his massive arms. Of feeling his strong heartbeat in synch with my own. I sent it all his way and he immediately obliged, clearing the room in two strides.

My mother was at my father's side before Jake had completed the first stride. Leah had rolled off the bed and was brushing past my parents as he finished the second.

He scooped me up from the bed and buried his face in my hair, inhaling my scent as deeply as he could. He spun me in a circle before allowing us to both collapse on the bed, laughing.

One would have expected my bed springs to groan in protest but both the frame and mattress were unthinkably expensive and had withstood both of us jumping up and down on them for hours at a time (it's not what you think! It was innocent fun).

My father cleared his throat gently, bringing me out of my little Nessie, Jake bubble. I snapped my head up to see him looking at us with a smile playing at the corners of his mouth. "You know I would protest to this but I can't detect even one unsavoury thought in either of your minds. It's actually rather sweet."

"Mom, what happened to your shield?" I asked.

"I know you might find this hard to believe sweetie, but you're not the only one in love. I got distracted for a couple of seconds." Her eyes darted to my father and I rolled my eyes.

Jacob chuckled as he nuzzled my neck and my eyes darted back to the doorway. Mom and Dad were gone.

"Soooo" I started.

"Hmmmm?"

"What was your little chat about?"

Jake grinned at me "Eddy just wanted to make sure we weren't moving too fast."

My eyebrows shot up "What did you tell him?"

"I told him that I would only move as fast as you wanted me to go. I also told him that living in a house full of vampires meant we constantly felt like we had to leave the house in order to spend quality time together."

My eyes bugged "What the hell did he say in response to that?"

Jake was still grinning so I knew the outcome hadn't been bad. I could barely believe Dad was being so reasonable about all this.

"He told me that he respected both you and I enough to make the right decisions. He told me that he acknowledged that you were an adult both mentally and physically but wanted to make sure that us being together meant you didn't miss out on anything."

Jake was speaking in a tine that suggested there was more to it than just that. It was painfully frustrating and was becoming half tempted to use the part of my gift on him that I never used.

"I know there's more. Spill it Mr Black." I mock scolded him.

"I told him he already knew I'd never do anything to hinder any of your life experiences.....then he told me that I should take you somewhere nice for a long weekend before you started school."

My jaw dropped. I couldn't believe it. "You're shitting me!"

"Nice. No I'm not shitting you little miss potty mouth. Eddy and Bells have been knowing this is all coming since you were born. They've had enough time to come to terms with it all." He said through an ear to ear grin.

I shot up and began to jump up and down on the bed. Obviously deciding it looked like fun, Jacob joined me.

We continued our conversation as we bounced.

"So where are we going?" I asked, trying (and failing) to hide the childlike excitement in my voice.

"Now that's a surprise." He replied as he jumped off the bed and performed a perfect somersault before landing on the floor with bent legs.

I leapt off the bed and landed on his back. He didn't even flinch as he absorbed the weight of my landing. Instead, he shot through my balcony doors and jumped to the ground below.

"Fancy a run?"

"I fancy a ride. Take me to the lake."

"Your wish is my command, my lady"

***

I awoke feeling flushed. There was an ache in my chest, a pull to an unknown direction.

My dream had slipped away from me instantly but I was getting used to it.

I wondered about the pull I felt. It was as though there was a magnet somewhere above me. Before I could wonder too much though, I felt overwhelmingly thirsty.

It blocked out all other thought immediately, I could focus on nothing except for the arid desert that was my throat.

_I have to get out of here_.

**I'm so sorry for taking so long to update, no doubt some of you have lost interest and moved on to other stories!!**

**I assure you that I will update regularly from now on, I know exactly where I'm taking the story and from here on the pace will be picking up quite considerably so fasten your seatbelts!**

**As always I would be eternally grateful if you took just a couple of minutes to review – you can ask questions, consider theories or suggest improvements...or you could even tell me how great you thing my story is! (I love you Alfie09!!) I promise to reply to everyone who reviews.**


	10. Chapter 10

**I am not Stephenie Meyer. I do not own the rights to the Twilight Saga.**

I didn't know what the time was, I didn't care. I had to find Crane.

I weaved through the claustrophobic hallways, trying to remember where the mess hall was but my thoughts were too clouded with a single word. _Thirsty_.

I must have taken a wrong turn, or perhaps several as I ended up in a harshly lit corridor lined with massive steel doors I had never seen before. They all had large yellow signs on them saying: _Authorized Entry Only!_

As I turned to retrace my steps, one of the doors slid open and a plain looking man with large glasses and a bright white lab coat emerged. He was staring at some sort of hand held device and didn't notice me.

His scent wafted in my direction and I drank it in. Soap with the faintest underlying whiff of body odour. He smelled like food. I heard the thump, thump of his heart. I heard the whooshing of blood as it travelled through his veins and my mouth filled with saliva.

Everything else went black, there was only me and this man in the whole world. The huntress and her prey.

He turned and began to walk towards me, still engrossed in whatever secrets his little device held. My muscles tensed as I pinpointed the sweet spot where I would place my razor sharp teeth. I could almost taste the skin part like butter where I would apply the pressure, almost feel his sweet life trickle over my tongue, awakening taste buds and slaking my painful thirst.

I would act quickly, taking advantage of my lighting-fast movement. He would never know what hit him. I would make it quick.

He came closer, still oblivious.

I darted forwards.

"Vanessa?"

It all happened at once.

I stopped abruptly with my hands held, claw-like before me. The man in the coat finally looked up from the gadget in his hands. He looked straight into my eyes and paled. I literally saw the blood drain from his face as the stench of his fear invaded my nostrils.

I must have looked truly monstrous as I noticed a dark patch appear and slowly widen at the crotch of his pants. His trembling hands dropped his shiny device.

My senses, or should I say, my sense came back to me. I became aware of my surroundings once more and simultaneously realised with true horror what I had been about to do.

Turning from him, I planned to run but I came face to face with Mr Crane.

"Are you alright?" He asked, concern clouding his voice.

I tried to form the words to respond but they would not come. Only ragged breath came.

He wrapped an arm around me and steered me down the hallway. Leaving my poor would-be victim standing alone, trembling in a puddle of his own urine.

***

I was guided into a lavishly furnished room. Crane sat me in a large, squashy armchair then placed a glass half full of amber liquid into my pale hands.

"Drink this" He commanded gently.

I followed his instructions without thought and placed the cool glass to my lips, swallowing the liquid. It burned as it travelled down, then continued to burn white hot as it sat in my empty stomach. I coughed harshly trying and placed the glass between my feet on the floor, eyeing it with contempt.

"What happened?"

"I....I....I almost. I would have..." I couldn't form a sentence. I could only contemplate what I had been about to do. If Crane hadn't broken me out of my trance I would have drained that poor lab nerd dry without batting an eyelid. I would have murdered him, stolen away his life for no other reason than to satisfy my own thirst. _I truly am a monster_, was all I could think.

Crane was kneeling before me now, looking directly into my eyes. "Please Nessie, I know you are finding this difficult but you must tell me what almost happened back there."

His sickly smell was bringing me out of one stupor and sending me into another. I found myself suddenly compelled to spill all my secrets to him. I wondered vaguely about why he had that effect on me before being overcome with an urge to answer his question. It somehow seemed incredibly rude to keep him hanging.

"Whatever you think I am. I'm not. I almost killed that man. I _would_ have killed that man if you hadn't called out to me. I am a danger to this facility and everyone in it. I should leave before I do something unforgivable." I spoke to the glass, unable to meet the eyes of the man who I had no doubt was looking at me with disgust – which is how I felt about myself, disgusted.

He placed a hand on my knee and squeezed gently. I slowly looked up into his eyes and was met with tender concern. "I think you are a very special young woman. You have extraordinary abilities but perhaps they come at a small price. Gifts like yours often do."

I opened my mouth to respond but he cut me off.

"I happen to trust my own judgement impeccably and I'll not be arguing about this with you. I will tell you, however, that you are missing the bigger picture here.

You say that you are a danger to this facility and everyone in it but I say you are in the perfect place for someone so....unique. You forget that there is someone out there looking for you Nessie. What do you think would happen if he found you?"

I closed my mouth and swallowed. He was right. It was safer for everyone, including myself if I stayed in The Hub. If Humber found me again I had no idea what he was capable of, but I had an idea of what I was capable of.

"Do you think Humber took me because he wanted to turn me into some sort of weapon?" I asked

"He wanted it for every other gifted individual in this facility. I have no doubt he had the same intentions for you. That he still does."

"But I can't stay locked up down here. I still need to get out. Maybe if I could just get a little fresh air, it might help with these.....urges."

Neither of us had mentioned my thirst for blood. I was reluctant to voice it out loud and Crane seemed to already know what I was talking about anyway.

"I know. That's why I had Tobin create this."

Crane walked over to a large ornate wooden desk on the other side of the room and pulled something out of one of the drawers.

He made his way back over to me and held out a strange metallic looking cuff.

"You are not a prisoner here Nessie, but I want you to be safe. This device contains a tracker so that if you are taken you can be found. It is also programmed to alert yourself and I if you travel more than two miles of this complex."

I took it from him and examined it. The cuff seemed to be made up of hundreds of tiny wires all melded together. It shone with a dull metallic hue.

"It cannot be removed by anyone except myself or Tobin. So if you are captured, Humber will not be able to remove it and we will still be able to find you."

Alarm bells were ringing faintly in my head as I had an internal conflict with myself. If I put on the cuff I would be able to go outside, feel the air on my skin and expel this claustrophobia that had been plaguing me. Perhaps find a way to better control this bloodlust. But something didn't feel completely right about placing something on my body which I couldn't remove. I felt as though it would be giving away a vestige of control over myself and I needed all the control I cold muster at the moment. I frowned, biting on the inside of my lip as I considered my options, of which there weren't really any.

Crane placed his hand on my knee again, leaning towards me and imploring me with his eyes. "I promise you that the cuff is safe. I only have your best interests at heart and as I said before you are not a prisoner here, but I do feel as though you are my responsibility and if you wish to go out alone I cannot let you do it without some sort of safety net in place."

Knowing it was the truth he spoke, I placed the cuff on my wrist. The tiny wire tendrils came to life and sealed themselves around me. It felt alien, unnatural but with Crane's assurances I felt safe.

"The cuff will also monitor your vital signs. If you get into trouble – your body will tell us and I will dispatch help immediately."

I gave him a small smile "Thank you."

He smiled warmly back, making me feel safe and wanted with a single look.

"Would you like to go outside now?"

***

As I stepped away from the steel trapdoor I had exited through, a massive tree literally got up and shuffled over to cover it. I gaped at it, still unable to fully come to terms with Maya's gift.

I looked down at the contraption strapped to my wrist, I hated how it felt against my skin – like it was alive somehow.

All musings were forgotten, however when the wind picked up and danced around my body as though it were pleased to see me.

I took great lungfuls of clean, fresh air into my lungs and savoured it like fine wine. I could taste the trees around me. I could smell that it had rained not long ago and I could hear a small brook gurgling in the distance.

I also noticed that the wind carried the hint of something I knew, something achingly familiar to me. I was about to follow when then wind suddenly changed direction and a new scent was blown my way.

The new scent was vaguely appetizing in a savoury, woodsy kind of way. I strained my ears towards it and was rewarded by the wet thump of a beating heart along with an odd sort of ripping noise.

The burn in my throat was so painful now, the flesh felt so parched and dry.

Unconciously I ran towards the scent, only vaguely noticing that I was almost flying through the woods on inhumanly fast legs. It was the thirst directing my movement now and the part of me that didn't feel insane from the bloodlust sighed in relief that I had not been overcome whilst in a room full of people.

When the beating heart and ripping sounds were loud enough for me to realise that the creature was very near by, my body once again overrode my mind and I dropped into a crouch, mouth filling with saliva and muscles tensing.

I climbed up the nearest tree to get a birds eye view of whatever it was I was tracking. My ascension was silent and quick, I looked down with Eagle eyes to see a massive stag methodically stripping bark from a tree.

I maneovered myself into place before dropping silently on top of the creature and sinking my teeth into the throbbing artery on it's neck.

Hot blood coursed down my throat, beginning at once to appease the maddening burn that had so nearly claimed my sanity. I drank until there was no more but knew vaguely that the thirst had not dissipated completely.

Blood sloshed around in my stomach but I did not feel fully sated and, with more control over myself this time I tentatively sniffed the air in the hopes of picking up another deer.

I saw and heard it at the same time and once again adopted my crouching pose. I moved stealthily through the woods listening intently. The wind had changed direction so I was now hunting using my hearing alone. Once again I could hear the wet heartbeat, but there was another close by – this one was much bigger.

I altered my course with the thrill of going after new and bigger prey.

I reached a small clearing where an even larger stag than before was bent, lapping water from the brook I had heard earlier. My body thrilled with the anticipation of more blood.

I was hyper-aware of everything around me. I felt stronger and healthier now I had gotten onside me what my body had craved so badly.

I checked the surrounding area, making sure all was clear for my intended pounce and was met by a pair of very large brown eyes staring at me from the opposite side of the clearing. It appeared that I had competition for my second course.

A low growl crept from my chest, challenging my competition and staking my claim on my meal. I was in hunting mode and I would defend my meal with tooth and claw if necessary.

I expected the pair of eyes to disappear. After the scare I gave that poor man earlier I knew I would appear as a formidable opponent to any lesser predator than I and in that moment, in the glory of my hunt I didn't think there was a greater predator on this unknown planet than I.

However, instead of retreating, the competitor for my meal stepped forward into the clearing with heavy footfalls.

The footfalls immediately alerted the stag, sending it sprinting off into the trees beyond.

OK, now I was pissed.

I gave another warning growl as I stepped forward to meet the beast. My teeth were bared and I had lowered my body into a crouch, like a coiled spring ready to explode into action at any given moment.

It was a large bear. I had no doubt it's shoulder could rub against my own if it got close enough, not that it was going to get the chance. The wind had changed direction once again and was blowing away from me, stealing my ability to scent him.

The bear had obviously decided that I would be a tastier treat than the stag it had just scared away. I felt faint amusement at it's assumption, coming to the same conclusion myself. I was sure that bear blood was tastier than stag's and I was about to find out.

I expected a growl in return but instead I was met by a whine. The bear had it's ears lowered and was edging towards me.

I frowned, something seemed wrong about it's stance, as though it was submissive and not aggressive. Why was he moving towards me if he was scared?

The bear suddenly exploded into motion and leapt towards me with speed to match my own.

In that moment I realised my mistake.

_Not Bear_, I thought. _Wolf_.

**I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I know it's a bit shorter than my previous ones but I thought this was a good ending point.**

**If you're enjoying what I have written so far, please take just a couple of minutes to review – it really would mean the world to me.**


	11. Chapter 11

**I am not Stephenie Mayer. I do not own the rights to the Twilight Saga. **

I was so tired. I had been running in circles for what felt like eternity.

I had decided that I fucking hated this forest. I felt like the very trees were hiding Nessie from me and I despised them for it.

Debris on the floor kept cutting the pads of my paws but I only felt momentary pain before they healed up. Besides it was nothing compared to the agonising ache in my chest. It felt like my heart was actually breaking, like pieces of it were being chipped away by an invisible pickaxe with each passing moment I was without her.

I threw back my head a let a mourning howl rip it's way out of my chest, lamenting what was lost. Why couldn't I find her? I knew she was near, I could feel her but she wouldn't come to me, which lead me to two possible conclusions. Either she was ignoring the pull or she wasn't able to act on it. I was leaning towards option number two, considering the way in which we both got here. I was sure she wasn't able to act on the pull because her kidnapper was stopping her. I'd already decided that I was going to personally obliterate whoever was keeping my imprint from me. They were already dead, they just didn't know it yet.

I stopped running. I needed to sleep. I didn't bother finding somewhere comfortable or hidden. I simply stopped where I was and slumped on the ground. I think I was asleep before my head hit my paws.

***

I awoke with a start, unaware of how much time had passed. It took me a nanosecond to realise what had woken me up.

She was near.

I jumped up and started running with new energy. I let the pull guide me as my heart beat out a tattoo on my ribcage; she's near, she's near, she's near.

I moved silently, a spectre in the green sunlight that was filtered through the leaves above. I wanted to howl in triumph and let her know what was coming but I didn't dare. What if her kidnappers were with her and wanted me too? I needed to stay silent, I would use the element of surprise to rescue Nessie – as well as tooth, claw and my own life if necessary.

The wind changed, blowing the sweetest most beautiful scent towards me. I felt it feather through my fur like her pale hands used to. It was her, I could smell the vampire in her, smell her human side. Her fragrance was the perfect balance as far as I was concerned: a spectacular sweetness, but not overly, cloyingly, nose achingly sweet like the rest of her family. She smelled like strawberries in the rain.

I reached a clearing and the pull within told me to stop. I obeyed immediately and crouched down in the bushes to watch a massive stag drink from a gurgling stream. I watched, waiting for Nessie and her kidnappers to emerge.

Four seconds passed before I spotted her, it was the longest four seconds of my life but when I spotted her it was like I could finally breathe again. The breeze was my friend, blowing her scent straight towards me.

She was so much more beautiful than I could have possibly remembered. My mind could never conjure up her true beauty but my eyes would drink in as much as they could take. She hadn't seen me yet, she was eyeing the stag. I decided I would take a moment to assess whether she had company or not...and perhaps just look at her. I had always loved watching her when she wasn't aware. Watching her sleep was my favourite but watching her hunt was a close second.

Her muscles were taught and coiled. I could see her calves and thighs, rock hard and tense beneath the skin tight leggings she wore. Gods, I wished I were those leggings.

My eyes moved upwards to the smooth curve of her hips. Her hips had often been a subject of wonder for me. They weren't like Bells', they had more curve but not an ounce of fat. Bella got her body from her mom so I wondered if perhaps Nessie got her body from Eddy's mother – though I had never dared ask.

Further up my eyes moved, coasting over the flat, muscled surface of her stomach and lingering on the soft mounds that were her breasts. I forced my eyes further up. They slid over her smooth, slender neck to take in the astronomical beauty of her face. Her top lip was slightly fuller than the bottom, she had a small nose, high cheekbones and eyes that were quite simply the perfect shade of liquid brown. All of that was framed by perfect bronze ringlets that were pulled into a bun at the base of her neck. I pictured the last time I had seen her hair down.

She had been naked, bouncing on top of me. Her hair cascaded down her arms and chest and back, giving me only a partial view of her breasts and making her look like Lady Godiva, only hotter. I remembered grinning because each time she bounced, her ringlets would bounce with her, giving me a sneaky peek of her erect nipples before settling back and brushing against my stomach.

The look on her face had been perfect rapture, she had let out excited little moans every time I felt myself plunge into her. When she had been close, she'd leant forwards to whisper in my ear as she ground her hips into mine with supernatural force. She nibbled gently, careful not to break the skin (not that I would have minded) before whispering two words huskily in my ear with urgency. "Now, please"

I blinked several times, bringing myself back to the reality that was the dream standing across the clearing from me. The sunlight caught her pale skin, giving it the pearlescent glow of the moon. The most wonderful juxtaposition, sunlight and moonlight in one.

If I was a werewolf, she was my moon. I changed for her, sang to her and worshipped her.

She scanned the bushes I was crouched in and caught my eyes. Every nerve in my body thrilled with the eye contact. I inched toward her infinitesimally....and she growled at me!

I heard it clearly, aimed at me, a warning. I didn't understand. I knew she was alone as I would have smelled, not to mention heard anyone with her.

She eyed the stag once more, choosing to ignore me. _What the fuck?_

I stepped from the bushes and into the clearing, sending the stag sprinting away. I moved slowly and deliberately, trying to work out what was wrong with her. She growled again, moving her body into a slightly lower posture and eyeing me with...with absolutely zero recognition. I whined, asking her in wolf what was the matter. Her posture relaxed a little, her head cocked to the side slightly and her eyes narrowed. This was it, she was recognising me! I didn't pause to think otherwise, I just launched myself at her thinking of nothing other than licking her face 'till she giggled uncontrollably and begged me to stop cos I was getting slobber up her nose.

As I travelled through the air I looked at her face expecting to see the same elation I was feeling but her face held fear and horror. She looked like a rabbit caught in headlights.

I turned my body at the last second, landing painfully on one of my back legs. The pain was gone in the next second, replaced by the pain of her fear.

I didn't want to move for fear of scaring her away but she seemed like she couldn't move if she wanted to. She just stood there, staring at me and panting. I could hear her hummingbird heart beating too fast.

I dropped my tail as low as it would go, crouched my body and flattened my ears – showing her my submission in an attempt to quell her fear.

How could she not recognise me? I just couldn't understand the lack of recognition in her eyes. Did she think I was just a wolf?

I laid down, allowing another whine to leave me and she seemed to relax a little more.

I edged closer to her, crawling on my belly and whining a little more. She crouched down too, looking directly into my eyes with her head cocked to the side again.

She was fighting an internal battle, I could see. It renewed my faith to see that she obviously still felt the pull of the imprint – even if she didn't know who I was she was still my imprint, the magic was still strong and connected us like invisible strands of taffy.

I watched as a perfect hand stretched out towards my muzzle, slowly and cautiously. "You're beautiful" She told me "Don't be afraid."

I crawled towards her a little more, there was only a few inches between us now. She kept her hand outstretched and I licked it. She tasted better than I had remembered, once again my crappy memory had been betraying me.

Musical bell tones filled my keen ears as she giggled "Well now, you're not scary at all are you?" I gave her my best wolfy grin, letting my tongue loll out the side of my mouth.

She moved forwards once more and gave me the gift I had been craving, her touch. Her warm hands stroked over my fur, sending shivers down my spine. I wanted to phase back, allowing her hands to touch skin instead of fur but I was afraid I'd scare her seeing as she obviously thought I was just a wolf. Albeit a really really huge wolf.

Too late! I felt the heat receding in me, I was changing back.

She moved so quickly, standing at once and staring at me with pure horror. I was crouched naked on the floor as she let forth a massive, ear piercing scream.

"Don't be afraid." I wanted to tell her, but the words wouldn't come out of my stupid mouth. My throat was too dry from not having had anything to drink in so long.

Before I could clear my throat to speak she cut me off

"Humber sent you." Was all she said before she turned and ran. I scrambled to give chase but her rejection had cut me like a knife. I wanted to lie there in my own hurt and pray that this was all a nightmare. I wanted to wake up back in our little cabin to see her sleeping beside me, her rhythmic breathing the perfect accompaniment to the tiny smile that would play on her lips as she dreamed. I would slip my fingers into her clenched palms and spy on her dreams. They were always of us.

I forced myself up and let the impossible heat claim me once more as I exploded into a form of fur and power. I had no chance of catching her on two legs, only on four.

I could hear her superfast footfalls ahead of me but she was just out of sight and I was so tired despite my recent sleep. I willed myself forwards, I couldn't lose her again.

As I let a fresh burst of speed that had been willed from nothing power me forwards I heard a strange noise, like creaking wood. Then there was nothing. She was gone and I knew it. The pull was still there but she wasn't. I'd lost her, again.

**I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please take a couple of minutes to review, even if it's just a few words.**

**To the wonderful people who have taken the time to review already I send you my heartfelt thanks - I can't tell you how much it means to me that not only did you take the time to read what I have written but you also gave me a little more of your precious time to let me know your thoughts. **


	12. Chapter 12

**I am not Stephenie Meyer. I do not own any of the rights to The Twilight Saga. No copyright infringement intended.**

I didn't remember the massive tree moving aside for me again. I didn't remember slamming my palm onto the handle of the two foot thick steel trap door with a built in palm scanner, but I must have in order to be standing in the sloping corridor that led to the breeze-less innards of The Hub.

I found an oddly shady section and slid down against the wall to crumple on the cool floor. My hands were splayed, touching the concrete behind me. For a second I considered it strange that the wall would be warm to the touch when the floor was so cold but the observation was quickly swept away as my recent encounter replayed in my head.

I saw him pad towards me, whining. Felt the uncontrollable urge to reach out and _touch_.

His fur had been silky smooth and a wonderfully warm rust colour – something had felt so right about him.

His eyes_, oh his eyes_! I should have known there and then that something was wrong with the animal. Don't ask me how, but I knew that wolves had amber eyes. If you've seen a 'wolf' on the big screen that has blue or brown eyes it's either a wolf-dog mix or simply a Malamute. Real wolves only have amber eyes and this guy had liquid brown eyes that seemed to smile at me when I touched his fur.

My stomach convulsed as I saw him change from giant cuddly wolf to hard, smooth man. I felt the blood in my veins turn to ice again as I realized I had made a terrible, terrible mistake. And yet, something nagged at me. There had been the tiniest fraction of a second where I had touched his bare skin and felt a spark of something..._other_. Like electricity between us.

I considered briefly whether that was his 'gift', perhaps he had the power to hypnotize me, to mesmerise, but I vetoed it when I remembered being told that I was special because I had multiple enhanced abilities and that gifted individuals had just the one ability. Assuming this guy's gift was the ability to change from a man to an animal and vice versa there was no way he could have some sort of mesmerising power too. _Or was there_? Perhaps Humber had advanced in those areas too after perfecting the machine he's used to bring me here.

Something else nagged at me. The wolf-man in the woods had seemed so confused by my reaction. Like he'd actually expected me to recognise him. That couldn't be right. If Humber sent him to find me then wouldn't he have adopted more composure than some sort of desperate gravelly grunt?

I pushed myself away from the weirdly warm wall. I needed to decide whether to share my little encounter in the woods with Crane before I made my way deeper into the complex.

No, I wouldn't tell him. If I told him he might not let me go back outside again and I had a feeling that my liquid lunch would only keep me going for so long until I started having those fantastic murderous, monstrous impulses again.

I would go back outside, I'd just be ready next time. I would not be ambushed like that again. Nobody was ever going to take me against my will again. _Ever_.

***

"Everything was fine." I lied to Crane "I feel much better for having gone outside, thanks."

Crane had asked me about my elevated heart rate while I had been in the woods.

Stupid bracelet.

"Well that's good to hear." He said with a winning smile.

I'd found that it had been easier to lie to Crane than I had thought. Perhaps it was the full stomach, or perhaps it was that I was limiting my inhalation of his scent.

"So, now that you are feeling better would you like to join this afternoon's combat session?" He asked with glittering eyes – did I see eagerness in them?

"Sure." I shrugged.

***

The combat session involved weapons training. I took a particular liking to two blades that looked like short samurai swords. I wielded them like extensions of my own arms and everyone had stopped to watch me twist and parry with lightning speed as though I had an invisible foe.

There was also some hand to hand, though nobody had wanted to practice with me at first. Eventually one of the massive dark-skinned brothers stepped forward and said "Yo ginger, give me your best shot."

I grinned and tensed my muscles in anticipation before throwing a punch right at his chest.

It was like hitting a wall of solid titanium, my fist ached and the guy didn't even flinch.

I was so surprised that when he surged forwards I made no move to get out of his way. He picked me up and threw me into the nearest wall, the steel actually buckled beneath me and I fell to the floor in a heap.

The whole room seemed to hold it's breath as I got back on my feet. I surged towards him with all my speed, jumping at the last moment and flipping right over him. His head snapped back as he tried and failed to follow my movement. I landed in a low crouch behind him and swept my foot at his ankles with all the force I could muster. He went down hard on his ass with a grunt, the floor shuddering beneath his bulk.

All eyes were on us as he got up for round two. I didn't allow myself to be caught by him again, using my speed to my advantage. Eventually he got tired and gave up, but not without telling me that without my speed he would have 'snapped me like a twig'.

After the session, Torrin informed me that our nightly meeting would have to be postponed as she had to leave the base on an errand for Crane.

I didn't press her for details but I did feel a pang of worry as I pondered whether it had anything to do with the man I had encountered in the woods.

I skipped dinner and went straight to my room, telling everyone I was too exhausted to eat. Maya had looked disappointed but let me go without a word.

When I got back to my room I didn't really know what to do with myself. My mind began meticulously recalling every detail of the events that occurred outside. I lay in my bed, fully clothed and let my brain race.

The more I thought about it, the more I noticed that I was feeling an inexplicable pull to go back outside. Not to feed but to see this man again.

I closed my eyes and tried to let sleep come, realising for the first time I had not made any effort to remember my past today.

I don't know how long it took for sleep to finally claim me but eventually I was enveloped in blackness and floating on air.

I suddenly round myself in my bedroom – my real bedroom. I was sat on the floor sketching mindlessly when I heard my father approach and knock softly on the door. I didn't bother telling him out loud to come in. Alice had dragged Mom off shopping so my mind was unshielded – all I had to do was think the invitation.

I heard the door open and my father's footsteps approach, I turned to him with a smile.

"Would you like some company?" He asked.

I thought momentarily what a silly question that was. He would, of course, have read it in my thoughts and not knocked on my door at all if I wasn't in the mood for his company.

I watched his mouth twitch at the corners as he pulled me up from the floor and began twirling me around the room in time to the music I had playing in the background.

"I thought we might spend the afternoon together."

"What would you like to do?" I asked as he spun me under his arm.

"The choice, of course, is yours but perhaps you would like to start with a hunt and then maybe we could purchase that car you have as the desktop background on your laptop."

I rested my head against the soft fabric of his sweater and smiled as I felt his icy skin absorb the warmth from my cheek.

"Can we dance for a little while longer first?"

"As I said, the choice is yours." He replied, returning my smile with a crooked one of his own.

We moved across the room with ethereal grace as all of my favourite Ludovico Enaudi songs flowed smoothly from the inexplicably expensive speakers my father had purchased for me six months ago.

I thought about how much I enjoyed being whirled around by my father. When I was smaller I would stand on his feet and then, when I least expected it, he would pick me up and twirl me around in the air at top speed as I giggled with childlike exuberance.

My dad chuckled into my hair as he heard my thought and before I knew it he had picked me up and I was twirling through the air once again. I squealed with delight as he let go of me and I soared right out through the open balcony doors and over the iron railing to land on the balls of my feet in the squishy grass, two floors below.

He landed right beside me at the same time, throwing me onto his back before taking off into the woods that sprawled behind our house.

Two large ungulates later, we were sat atop an enormous tree, listening to the sounds of the wildlife below.

"Are you happy?" Dad asked.

"Yes" I answered without hesitation.

"He makes you happy?"

"Constantly, I love him."

"Such simple words." He observed

"Not matter how eloquently I put it, I could never truly express the immensity of my feelings."

"I understand, sometimes I just worry."

"I've noticed you have the tendency to do that sometimes."

Dad chuckled, obviously catching the sarcasm dripping from my voice.

"Is it a crime to worry about my very own miracle as she grows up?"

I rolled my eyes "Are you worried I might get sick? Or perhaps cut myself whilst chopping onions?"

"It gives me constant nightmares." He joked

I raised my eyebrows, dad rarely made fun of his inability to sleep.

"I know that my happiness is paramount to you Daddy, but you can sleep easy knowing that right now I have never been happier." I said with a wink before sliding from the branch and freefalling to the bed of pine needles below.

Once again, Dad landed silently beside me. I turned to him and asked a question that had been bugging me "How comes you're being so...cool about all this?"

He gave me his famous crooked grin "Because I know you are safe with him, that he loves you more than any other possible suitor could and that he makes you as happy as your mother makes me....also I have had your whole life so far to come to terms with it all. I believe Jacob Black is worthy of your love."

Tears sprang to my eyes as I threw my arms around my father and projected how blessed I felt to have him in my life. My Daddy wasn't perfect (nobody is) but he knew what mattered to me.

He returned my embrace with fierceness to match my own but released me when he realised I couldn't breathe.

Blackness surrounded me again.

Then, like a candle in the dark, I saw his face.

My sweet Jacob.

I wasn't sure if I was still dreaming any more. This felt different, like that wonderful calm between being asleep and being awake. He smiled at me as his body materialised. He wore black jeans that clung to him deliciously and a white shirt that made his caramel skin glow. He beckoned me towards him and I was powerless to resist as a force that was more powerful than anything I had ever experienced drew me to him.

He held his arms open for me and I knew that his embrace would make me feel whole and safe and happy. I moved towards him and pressed myself against his chest, feeling iron arms encase me in warmth.

Iron arms turned into soft, sweet caresses over the small of my back, making my breath hitch in my throat. I felt the heat of his breath in the parting of my hair.

He inhaled, deep, absorbing my scent.

My hands slipped under his shirt and ran over the taut muscles of his chest, his skin felt feverishly warm and yet it was smooth and dry to the touch. I smelled him all around me. He was piny, musky goodness that made my body react in primal ways.

I was wearing nothing but a satin, floor length robe and it fell in a puddle at my feet as he released the waist tie. I fumbled with the buttons of his shirt – finding myself strangely un-coordinated.

I found myself with no more patience, I ripped it from him with a growl as he worked the fastenings of his pants.

He groaned as I dragged my tongue up the middle of his chest, circling it in the hollow of his collar bone. I felt his hands rove over me, stroking leg and back, arms and breasts, cupping my rear and pressing my hips into him.

I felt him against me, throbbing and jerking, impatient for me.

Still his hands explored, palms caressing the outline of my body. Finally he cupped my face and pressed his lips to mine. He opened my mouth with his own and I felt his tongue dart in. My knees buckled, my nerve endings sizzled and then I shot up in bed unable to breathe.

I was awake, he wasn't with me and my heart ached for him. My sheets were shredded once again and beads of sweat peppered my top lip.

I waited with calm expectation for the inability to remember whatever I had just dreamt about but instead I found myself able to remember the scene and his face with perfect clarity.

I couldn't pinpoint why or how but in that moment I had the most sure and clear thought I had ever had since I woke up in that horrible little hospital bed.

The man I had met in the woods was not a stranger to me, he was the key to everything.

I slid out of bed, dressed in the first things I pulled out of the dresser drawers and strode over to my door.

I was going back outside and I was sure he was going to be right there waiting for me.

**A/N: Once again I thank you from the bottom of my heart for continuing to read my story. I apologise for the sporadic updating but I feel like I'm back in the swing of things now so the next chapter should be up pretty soon. It's my favourite so far so I hope you will like it!**

**If you have enjoyed what you have just read I would be eternally grateful if you could take just a couple of minutes to review. Feedback really encourages me to continue and post regularly.**

**In case you haven't heard any music by Ludivico Enaudi I strongly suggest you have a listen. I do most of my writing to the album entitled 'Divenire' and the track entitled 'Primavera' is my personal favourite – it gives me goosebumps every time!**


	13. Chapter 13

**I am not Stephenie Meyer. I do not own the rights to the Twilight Saga. No copyright infringement intended.**

I moved through the base like a wraith, using my speed and reflexes to the maximum. I was at the exit hatch in seconds.

It was only then that I stopped to consider my actions. If I left now, in the middle of the night, I was sure someone would know. Would they follow? Would I be reprimanded? Would it be considered an escape?

Thoughts and possibilities flowed through my mind like a ferocious river.

But the river evaporated as I remembered the heat of my dream, I had to go to him, I had to know and I no longer cared about the consequences.

I placed my palm on the pad next to the hatch and hoped it would release the door. If it didn't, I could always pull the thing right off it's hinges.

It opened with a friendly sounding tone and I pushed the door outwards with unnecessary force. The door slammed to a halt, sending a jarring vibration straight up my arm. _Shit, the tree_.

Maya must have been asleep and I had no intention of walking her up and explaining why I needed to get out.

I took a deep breath before sliding as much of my body as I could out of the space that had been created. Then I began to claw.

The roots and bark and flesh of the tree came away under my nails surprisingly easily, allowing me to literally tunnel my way out.

I pulled myself out through my self-created hole and dusted the dirt and debris from myself before once again taking a moment to revel in my surroundings.

I could hear tiny scurrying insects in the ground, the brook in the distance and birds calling from above, warning one another of my presence.

I wondered how I would find the man again. Would he find me? Would he be in wolf or human form?

I began to move through the dense foliage at a jog, not really sure of where I was going. It was then that I felt that strong pull from the centre of myself and I knew he was near.

I arrived at the brook, it was gurgling merrily as tiny silver fish darted through it's meagre depths.

A rustle caught my ear and I snapped my head up to stare at the empty clearing before me. He was there, I could sense him.

Should I speak? Let him know I wouldn't run this time?

I settled for simply saying "I know you're there. Please come out."

As he stepped through the clearing I thought I was dreaming. There was simply no other explanation for the sight before me.

It was as though the whole world was just shades of grey compared to the beauty of him.

Silky black hair framed the angular lines of his face. His jaw was strong with lips that were full and moist as though he had just licked them, they looked deliciously soft.

His skin was honey over polished copper, it literally glowed with the warmth that emanated from him.

My gaze travelled down his body, he was not naked this time. Instead he wore a ragged pair of grey sweats that clung to his hips wonderfully. I bet his ass looked fantastic.

I forced myself to look at his face again and his eyes made my heart splutter and my breath catch in my throat, not to mention my mouth hang open.

They were framed both above and below by long thick rows of lashes that any woman would have killed for. The irises were slightly larger than in normal eyes and were the most beautiful, richest shade of brown I had ever seen. I couldn't believe I hadn't noticed all this the first time, perhaps if I had I would never have run away.

He was looking at me like I was water in a desert, like I was the most spectacular thing he had ever seen in his entire life and I wondered if my expression was the same. I was certain in that moment that god had taken every single conscious and unconscious desire I have ever had and created the man in front of me – there was simply no other explanation for such a perfect being to be standing before me.

His full lips pulled up into a smile and I felt like the sun was shining on me for the first time and suddenly, with movements almost as quick as my own he darted forwards and pulled me into his arms.

I can't fully express how truly wonderful the feel of his embrace was mixed with his scent.

Arms of pure corded muscle crushed me into him as his intoxicating aroma pulled me into oblivion. He smelled so good, I was salivating in more than one place, my skin flushed blazing hot and I had an overwhelming urge to wrap my legs around his bare torso, thread my fingers through his hair and kiss every part of him I could reach.

But instead I hung there limp in his embrace, unable to react at all.

He gently released me and placed me back onto the ground whilst staring intently into my eyes, his brows knitted together.

I stared dumbly back at him, mesmerised by the beautiful stranger. I knew I should say something but I was afraid that if I reacted at all then he would disappear and I would awake alone, with no memory of my dream like I had almost every morning.

"Ness?" His voice was shaky and tentative but rich and bassy at the same time. Hearing it say my name sent shudders of pleasure shooting down to the tips of my numb fingers.

I swallowed before deciding to answer, still desperately afraid that as soon as words passed my lips my dream would pop into nothingness like a burst bubble.

"H..How do you know my name?" Was all that managed to come out and I regretted it immediately.

He recoiled from my words as though they had taken physical from and pierced his heart.

"Do you know who I am?" he whispered. The words did not cause me pleasure this time.

My eyes stung with tears and my lips shook as I answered "I…..I'm sorry. I don't r-remember" I desperately wanted to tell him that even though my brain was a bit slow on the uptake my body sure as hell seemed to remember him, but I lost the power of speech when he moved forwards again and crushed his lips to mine in a fierce kiss.

My reaction involved no thought, my body had taken complete control and my mind had willingly succumbed.

I pressed myself into the contours of his body and wrapped my fingers in his hair as he groaned into my mouth before brushing my bottom lip with his tongue. I granted him entry and fireworks danced behind my eyes as I tasted him.

He lifted me off the floor and I wrapped my legs around his waist, I could feel his growing bulge press against my centre and it made my insides liquefy with burning pleasure.

He wove a hand into my hair and gently eased my head back, it broke the kiss which elicited a growl of protest from me but it quickly melted into tiny whimpers of pleasure as he began kissing me down the length of my neck.

He made his way down to my collarbone where he gently circled his tongue in the hollow of my throat before bringing his lips up to my ear and whispering in a throaty growl "Is this ringing any bells?"

All I could think was _If I say yes will you keep going_? but I couldn't catch my breath for long enough to give him the answer.

He released me slowly, gently placing me back onto the soft earth. My legs gave way but he caught me effortlessly, stirring feelings inside me that I didn't know I was capable of having.

He stared into my eyes and I became lost in the swirling chocolate pools. "You have to tell me what's going on Ness. Do you know where you are? Do you know how you got here?"

I tried to collect myself but it was virtually impossible. My body was reacting in ways that were well out of my control.

"For the love of the spirits Nessie, you have to answer me!" He shouted as his arms clenched the tops of my shoulders.

Tears were falling freely down my face, my brain was simply refusing to compose itself. "Please, I don't know. I....I thought you could tell me...I don't know why."

All the alarm and anger drained from his face as he watched my tears fall and a look of such pure tenderness replaced them. His arms gently encircled me again as he pulled us both to the ground and placed me in his lap.

"Do you know your full name?" He asked gently.

"Vanessa Black." I answered through intermittent sniffles.

"Your drivers licence." He said brusquely.

"It was all I had when they found me."

"It's a fake, that's not your real name."

I suppose the revelation should have shocked me, but it didn't. I think I knew something was wrong with that licence the moment I saw it.

"You know my real name?" I asked gently, trying to hide the eagerness in the question.

He stiffened slightly and then began to gently rock me back and forth.

"Your real name is Renesmee Carlie Cullen, you were born on the tenth of September, two thousand and six, you came from a small town in Forks, Washington and you were kidnapped over three weeks ago by some assholes who signed their own death warrants as they did it." He said the last part with a growl that vibrated through my body.

I stayed silent, unable to respond and yet utterly sure he was telling me the complete truth.

"I don't know where the hell we are but it's not....home. I managed to hold on as they took you but we got...separated and I've been searching for you ever since."

"Who are you?" I finally asked.

He inhaled deeply before responding. "I'm Jacob Black, your Fiancee."

My eyes bugged, _Fiancee?! _I turned my head to look up at him. The beauty of his face struck me once more and I considered that if he really was my husband to be I was one lucky amnesia chick. "_Really?_" I asked, unable to conceal the grin that was tugging at the corners of my mouth.

He grinned at me, revealing a perfect set of pearly whites. "Oh yeah, _really_."

We sat in silence for a moment, he had stopped rocking me but was holding me firmly to him as though I might start squirming and run away again. Yeah. Right.

"If you don't know who I am, why did you come back?" He asked tentatively.

I briefly considered lying to make myself sound less weird, but in the end I decided to tell him the truth.

"I...had a dream." I started before he cut me off.

"Show me."

I frowned "What?"

"Show me your dream."

"I...seriously, _what_?"

He took my hands in his and placed my palms on the sides of his smooth face.

"Do you remember it?"

"Yes." I said with complete certainty.

"Remember it now." He commanded gently.

I allowed it all to come rushing back. The images, the thoughts and feelings. He gasped and I felt him begin to grow and push against the small of my back.

By all rights and purposes I should have felt uncomfortable but instead I pushed into him, eliciting a small but satisfying groan from his lips.

As the images from my dream faded, they were replaced with new and even more graphic ones. I wanted him to do things to me, to take me right there on the floor of an alien forest in an alien world.

He was panting as he released my hands from his. I didn't allow them to drop though, instead I stroked his cheekbones with my thumbs, revelling in the fact that the temperature of his skin seemed to increase with every stroke.

I don't know how it happened but in less than a second I was suddenly straddling him on the soft ground.

I moved my hips rhythmically against the struggling bulge in his tattered sweatpants, feeling a burning, tingling heat spreading from my core outwards.

There was no thought in my head, only desire, only him. I saw him shutter his eyes, trying to gain control but I wouldn't allow it. I began placing kisses all over his bare, muscled chest, circling his nipples with my tongue then grazing ever so lightly with my teeth. He yelped and then bucked his hips and ground them into mine. I gasped loudly, feeling internal muscles contract. I was literally aching for him.

He flipped me over so that he was lying on top of me, I stared into his eyes and a beast of pure lust stared back at me. "Do you want me to fuck you?" He asked in a voice I'd not yet heard from him, it was a deep growl, thick and needy. I loved it.

"Yes" I answered breathlessly "Please Jake, I need you now."

My hands found his rear as I spoke and I pushed him down to grind against me again.

He kissed me, deep and hard. His tongue probed my mouth but carefully avoided my teeth, I noticed.

I returned the kiss with equal enthusiasm, whimpering into his mouth.

We tore the clothing from one another with supernatural speed and precision. He placed nips and licks over every part of me as I bucked and moaned and begged for him.

He placed himself at my entrance and began to ease himself in. _Too slow!_ I needed him immediately, wanted him so much it hurt.

One of his massive hands had both of my wrists pinned to the ground above my head, as though he knew I would love nothing more than to place my hands on his firm, rounded rear and force him deeper inside.

He leaned his head down so that his lips brushed my ear lobe, causing me to shiver with pleasure.

I began to push my hips into him, planting my heels firmly in the dirt but he whispered tenderly in my ear "I've been waiting so long for you, searching and calling. Now that I've found you, can't you wait just a few moments for me?"

The words sent tremors of pure pleasure through my body. There was no outside world any more, just me and Jacob Black performing an act so pure and true and carnal that there was no room for rational thought. No room for memory or realisation. Only reaction.

"My sweet, sweet Jacob. For you I would wait an eternity. For you I would die a thousand deaths or live forever." I breathed.

My words seemed to tip him over the edge, even though I didn't even realise what I was saying at the time.

He plunged fully into me, causing my eyes to roll back into my head. We both shouted with pleasure, screaming our rapture for the world to hear.

Again and again he thrust into me, I felt as though he was burrowing deeper each time. The delicious pressure was building in me, I knew soon it would be released and I would feel it work it's way through the very fibre of my being. The pace grew faster, faster and faster still until we came together with a combined scream of unadulterated bliss.

When he collapsed on top of me I felt as though my whole body was liquid. We both trembled with aftershocks as the breeze whipped across the sticky skin of our bodies, perhaps to some it would have been icy and harsh but to me it was cool and refreshing.

After some time, Jacob rolled off me and pulled me against his side. I rested my head on his bicep and felt my eyelids beginning to droop. I snapped them open again afraid that by going to sleep, I would actually be waking up from the most spectacular dream in known history.

Sensing my movement, Jacob rolled towards me slightly and reached out a hand to stroke my face and tuck stray ringlets behind my ears.

"Sleep, beautiful. I promise I'll be right here when you wake up." He murmured to me.

I thought that if I just rested my eyes then that would be OK. He was so warm and I was so comfortable.

As I drifted into blackness I could have sworn I heard him speak more words, but they were so fuzzy.

It sounded like he said something about laying entire civilisations to ruin before he allowed anyone to take me from him again.

***

I awoke to absolute pitch black, knowing something was wrong. But I could never have guessed what was to come.

I would never have guessed I was going to come face to face with my own death.

However if asked if I would do anything different, were I to live that night again.

I would say no. Without hesitation. Without doubt.

No.

I shot up from my peaceful slumber, closely followed by Jacob. The night clung to everything like a blanket of velvet. My eyes saw perfectly well despite the only like coming from a few stars and barely a sliver of a moon.

"Whaizzit?" Jacob mumbled before stiffening as he sniffed the air around him. He was composed within a second and made a move to grab me, but I was too fast, managing to spring to my feet just outside of his reach.

He froze with his hands outstretched, looking at me as though I were a wild animal he was trying not to startle.

I could tell from his eyes that he was thinking I was going to run again.

Truth be told, even after what had happened I still hadn't gotten my memory back.

I had instead gained knowledge and trust. I knew everything he had told me was the truth and it made me confident that he would do anything in his power to help me remember.

I made no sound, instead choosing to look him directly in the eyes and place my index finger to my lips.

He comprehended immediately, getting to his feet and moving towards me. I noticed the whole outline of his body seemed to be shivering, as though he were a mirage.

I sensed, rather than heard or saw anything but it was enough.

I threw myself in front of Jacob just as a beam of blood red light shot through the trees, and I mean literally _through _the trees, cutting a path like a laser beam towards him.

Time stood still for just a moment. Like the entire universe was between breaths. Then things began to move again, but in slow motion, it seemed.

I turned my body to face him. His outline still shimmered like blacktop on the hottest day.

Jacob was staring at me with pure horror marring his perfect features. He wasn't staring at my face though, he was staring at my chest.

I followed his gaze to find a gaping, bloody mess. Half of my right breast and all the muscle underneath was missing, the ribs where the beam had hit were gone. I could see _into_ my chest. There was so much blood.

I looked up into his face again and frowned in confusion.

I couldn't understand what had just happened.

I managed only one word before my legs crumpled beneath me.

"Jake."

As I fell I could have sworn I saw a shadow prowling between the trees, blacker than the night itself.

***

**A/N: I'm sorry to leave this on such a cliffhanger but when I realised the sheer size of this chapter I thought it would be best to cut it into two.**

**A heartfelt thanks to everyone who has taken the time and consideration to write me a review. You all totally rock!**

**I have to say that this is my favourite chapter so far – I wrote the scene where Jake comes through the clearing months ago and I've been itching to get to the point where I can use it ever since!**

**As always, if you have anything to say about what you have just read it would totally make my day if you took just a couple of minutes to review. Your feedback is what keeps me writing!**

**Altea**


	14. Chapter 14

**I am not Stephenie Meyer. I do not own any of the rights to The Twilight Saga. No copyright infringement intended.**

*******

The world felt like a TV with bad reception. Sights and sounds faded in and out. Someone was screaming at me but they sounded so far away.

I forced my eyes open to see Jacob leaning over me. Sweat covered his face and his whole body was shaking, he seemed to flicker like a candle in the dense darkness.

I blinked furiously, he was shouting something and thrusting his wrist towards me. I recoiled as much as I could manage in my state. He was telling me to do something, his tone urgent and voice shaking as much as his body.

Blackness claimed me, a brief respite from the indescribable pain.

***

"Don't you DARE die on me." Jacob shouted into my face as my eyelids fluttered open.

I was so cold. The feeling was fading from my extremities.

I thought about how right it had felt to protect the man holding me, how happy I was that the last face I would see before death claimed me was his.

He thrust his wrist in my face again. "DRINK!" he commanded furiously.

As I realised what he was telling me to do I clamped my lips shut with all the force I could muster, refusal showing in my dull, shuttered eyes.

He was shouting more now, but he sounded so far away. I felt him push his wrist against my mouth.

So tired. So cold.

Blackness.

***

As I came to, my head slammed against something. Warm liquid flowed over my slack lips, touched my tongue, trickled down my throat.

It tasted like animal, but somehow _more_ - sweeter.

It tasted......_so good_.

I swallowed... and instinct took over.

More liquid, more swallowing. The flow kept closing off but I only had to bite down slightly to get it going again.

I began to feel again. The pain was receding, replaced by itchiness. I ignored it, consumed by my blood frenzy.

I bit and swallowed, bit and swallowed. I heard a voice. I ignored it. The blood was the life, pumping from the body of another to fuel my own.

I was healing.

The voice was becoming clearer. "..ess...op....ease..."

Still I drank, sating my carnal thirst. This wasn't about healing any more, it was about simply continuing to drink until there was no more, then I would move onto the next.

The voice became clearer still, I realised it was a murmur but it sounded so loud to my vampiric ears. "Nessie.....you have....to......stop." No. I wouldn't stop. This voice would not command the beast that had taken over. I was a goddess. Powerful and fierce. To drink was my right. I would not stop until my thirst was sated.

I could not stop.

"Renesmee, you have to get away from me. You have to stop, I'm going to....."

I growled and reached my hands up to wrap around the source of blood. I grabbed hard and pulled it further into my razor jaws.

The voice was growing weaker, my prey would be dry soon. "Ness, I'm gonna Phase!"

Everything went white, just for a second. A burning hot field of energy wrapped itself around me, twirling around my limbs, entering my very consciousness.

A force greater than anything I had ever felt blasted me into the air. I felt my body flip twice before slamming into something very hard and very big.

There was three seconds of nothing before it came to me.

A mental blast.

Every memory, every thought, every feeling, every experience I had ever had hit me like a battering ram.

I was powerless. Unable to move as my own memory assaulted me.

Faces flipped in an endless loop. Edward, Bella, Carlisle, Esme, Alice, Jasper, Rosalie, Emmett, Leah, Seth, Quil, Embry, Sam, Emily, Claire, Charlie, Renee and Jacob. The loop continued several times before finishing with Jacob's face hovering before me.

His sweet smile beamed at me, perfect teeth gleaming, eyes shining.

Jacob. My sweet Jacob. My love. My soul mate. My everything.

My prey.

I sprang from my back to my feet in one movement, adrenaline coursing through me.

"JACOB!" I screamed as I searched frantically around me.

A whine answered and I stumbled towards it blindly, realising that I still wasn't in full control of my body.

Jacob's russet wolf crawled towards me, whining helplessly and caked in blood. I could smell that some of it was his, but most of it was mine.

I dropped to my knees, moving my hands through his fur as deftly as I could, searching for the wound I had inflicted upon him. I found raised skin under the fur of his neck. Two slim crescents that had already sealed over.

I moved a hand to stroke his muzzle and he made a weak effort to lick it, telling me he would be fine. He looked into my eyes and I saw an apology in them. The stupid, crazy moron was sorry for Phasing while I was clamped onto one of his arteries, draining his life away!

As I realised what I had just done, what I had almost done, I turned to the side and vomited. I heard another whine before leaning in the other direction to my vomit and promptly losing consciousness.

***

**My apologies for the length of this chapter – I ended up deleting a massive chunk of it as I thought it would be better to switch to Jacob in the next chapter.**

**I am writing it at the moment but keep becoming distracted by puppies and wolves (if you haven't checked out my profile, I work in a wolf sanctuary). Life's real hard sometimes....**

**I want to give a heartfelt thanks to all who have reviewed so far, I can't tell you how much it means to me that you would take the time to not only read what I have written but respond to it too.**

**I write for you, the reader, as well as myself so your opinions matter more to me than you can imagine.**

**I promise another update is on it's way!**

**Altea**


	15. Chapter 15

**I am not Stephenie Meyer. I do not own the rights to the Twilight Saga. No copyright infringement intended.**

**Jacob**

My heart burst with pride and love when I knew she'd come looking for me. I felt that familiar pull tell me that she was near again.

When I'd stepped out into that clearing and seen her face I could have sworn she knew who I was. She looked at me like...like a highschooler whose crush had just spoken to her. Her cheeks had that familiar rose blush, the best colour in the universe.

Her skin shone. She was so pale that it made her hair look like spun gold. How could I have found that alabaster tone so offensive once?

I grinned at her as I moved forward. I had to feel her in my arms, I wanted to hold on and never let her go.

I expected her to wrap her arms around me too, I waited to feel that familiar rib-cracking pressure. Instead I got nothing. _What the hell?_

I let go and looked at her, I saw my familiar Nessie, but there was a stranger there too. My Ness would never look at me like that, she'd only ever looked at me with secure recognition, dammit. She'd claimed me as her own practically since birth.

She really had forgotten. What the hell had happened to her?

"Ness?" I asked, trying to mask the desperation in my voice.

"H...How do you know my name?" She answered shakily.

Pain lanced through me as the realisation was confirmed. She didn't know me from Adam.

I couldn't understand it. A deep magic connected us on levels I didn't even know I had. Nessie's mind was supposed to be uber strong; she could break through Bella's shield for fuck's sake. The chances of Renesmee Cullen suffering from run of the mill amnesia was about as likely as Satan popping into the Newton's store and buying a pair of ice skates.

Someone had done this to her, her kidnappers had violated her mind. For a split second I thought about every pain I would inflict on them. I felt that familiar heat build in me but quashed it instantly.

_OK, let's start with the basics_ _Jake_.

I decided to take it slow and calm so as not to frighten her off.

"Do you know who I am?" I whispered, trying (and failing) to hide my apprehension.

"I…..I'm sorry. I don't r-remember" She replied, sounding as disappointed as I felt.

_Screw this_. Imprinting was stronger than whatever mind fuck someone was pulling.

I moved forwards knowing that there was nothing stronger than the magic we created when we were together. She had told me once that my kisses were unforgettable so I decided to put it to the test.

Bingo! She kissed me back with unmatched ferocity before winding her slender fingers through my hair, she pulled some out as she pushed through the tangles but I didn't care. Pain was nothing compared to the pleasure of feeling her body on mine.

My mind had its usual reaction to her. It, of course, shut down as I began thinking with an entirely different part of my anatomy.

I pulled her favourite moves before asking, "Does this ring any bells?" in my most seductive voice.

The answer didn't come from her lips, but her voice blew straight into my mind like a strawberry scented breeze "_If I say yes will you keep going_?"

Crap.

I put her down as I tried to think logically about the whole situation, but as her feet touched the ground I realised her legs weren't going to support her. I bent my knees to catch her and heard a shuddering breath leave her body. Her skin seemed to get several degrees hotter in the places where my hands were.

When I looked into her eyes in that moment I saw a Nessie I remembered. I saw the Nessie who had scampered into the shower, asking me if I was coming or not...at which point I would always tell her what a stupid question that was.

I snapped myself out of my reverie. I had to get to the bottom of what was happening. I had to get her home where she belonged and I had to find out who had taken her and why. I would start by finding out exactly how much she knew.

Unfortunately I was a little too overwhelmed to compose myself, resulting in a case of verbal diarrhoea.

"You have to tell me what's going on Ness. Do you know where you are? Do you know how you got here?"

Of course I scared the shit out of her. She was trying to avoid my eyes, her cheeks were flaming beautifully.

I don't know what the hell came over me next but I grabbed her and shouted, I couldn't tell you in the next moment what I had actually said.

I thought it would somehow shock her memory back into her.

Sometimes I have to take a moment and just wonder at how much of a stupid asshole I am.

She looked down at the floor, hiding her face from me as she replied ""Please, I don't know. I....I thought you could tell me...I don't know why."

When she looked up at me I saw that her pristine skin was wet with her tears, a ringlet stuck to her face, secured by salt-water glue.

I felt something snap inside me as I realised the tears pooling in her eyes and tumbling over her porcelain face were caused by me. _Me_.

_Too far Jake, you stupid jerk._

Instinct took over as I pulled her into me, desperate to make the hurt in her face evaporate. I was so disgusted with myself, wishing a hole would open up and swallow me – an express route to hell, apt punishment for making an angel cry.

I sat down without even thinking, taking her with me.

_OK, new approach Jake. Try not to completely fuck it up this time._

I would be gentle, she's been through so much. Only the spirits knew what.

"Do you know your full name?" I asked in what I hoped was a softer voice.

Sniff "Vanessa" sniff "Black" She replied, reminding me of what an epic douche bag I was for making her cry.

It took a second for me to compute. How had she come up with that? Did her kidnappers tell her? If so, then how would they even know about that name?

Then it came to me, how she would always keep that stupid fake licence in her pocket, even though it was out of date. For some reason, that silly memory cut me like a knife.

"Your driver's licence." I observed.

"It was all I had when they found me." She said. Though her tone wasn't scathing, in fact there was a knowing edge there, as though she had suspected about the licence.

"It's a fake, that's not your real name." I said, just to make sure we were reading from the same page.

"You know my real name?" It was a question, but also an admission of fact.

Part of me wanted to break it all to her gently but I figured if she'd gone as far as coming out to find me in the hopes of getting some answers, I would give them all to her without making her wait any longer. It was the least I could do.

"Your real name is Renesmee Carlie Cullen, you were born on the tenth of September, two thousand and six, you came from a small town in Forks, Washington and you were kidnapped over three weeks ago by some assholes who signed their own death warrants as they did it."

I tried to stay calm as I told her about the kidnapping but I could feel my temper starting to boil. The heat managed to spread a little further this time, but I caught it, _again_.

Silence. I kept going.

"I don't know where the hell we are but it's not....home. I managed to hold on as they took you but we got...separated and I've been searching for you ever since."

There was another silence as she seemed to consider her reply. Then she asked the six million dollar question.

"Who are you?"

I considered giving her some bullshit so as not to scare her. Then I remembered that I couldn't lie to Nessie. I wouldn't, she deserved the truth – so I gave it to her.

"I'm Jacob Black, your Fiancée."

Her reaction gave me hope again. Seeing her eyes widen and stare at me like I was something special. Like I was the one who was too good for her, like she was the lucky one.

The idea was laughable.

"_Really?_" She asked, her voice rising a couple (of thousand) octaves.

I couldn't help but smile as I gently mocked her.

"Oh yeah, _really_."

We both grinned in silence before I decided I needed to hear from her exactly why she came back. I thought I knew but I needed to ask.

I regretted asking as the words left my mouth, worried that it might somehow give her cause to actually second guess sitting on the ground with the arms of an apparent stranger wrapped around her.

She surprised me by telling me it was a dream that changed her mind.

I had meant to _ask_ but in my eagerness to know I _commanded_ she show me what she meant instead.

Her head was resting against my chest and I felt her expression change

"What?"

She'd used her gift on me just a few minutes ago. How did she not know what I meant?

I asked her again. "Show me your dream."

I felt her head cock to the side "I...seriously, _what_?"

The corners of my mouth twitched as I had one of those moments where I felt the need to slap the heel of my palm against my head and say "DUH!"

She obviously didn't know she'd been using her gift. She didn't even know she had it.

I decided to educate her by taking her hands and putting them to my face. If she didn't know about her gift then it would be harder trying to tell her how to project – especially seeing as even when she described the method to me herself I _still_ didn't get it.

"Do you remember it?" I asked, referring to the mystery dream.

She didn't even hesitate before telling me that she did. Not a shred of doubt clouded her voice.

I prepared my mind for her this time. Then I told her to remember.

I was hit with images I could have never prepared for. The dream had been...dirty!

I felt myself stiffen against her, there was nothing I could do.

I could control my temper, my phasing, even my stupid motor mouth when I really put my mind to it. But it was a lost cause trying to control myself when it came to Nessie showing me things like that.

I had expected her to freak out, to move away and keep asking questions but it seemed we had denied our bond for too long and it was breaking through what little logic I had.

She pushed into me, setting my nerve endings alight. I tried to bite back a groan but it slipped out.

I felt her begin to withdraw from my mind, then in the next moment she came back with full force. Not showing me a dream this time, showing me the future, what she wanted.

She wanted _me_.

Never having been the one to deny her anything, I let my brain shut down and gave her exactly what she wanted.

***

When we were done, she lay next to me and sighed. It was deep and satisfied, which in turn made me feel pretty damn good for satisfying her.

I watched with mild amusement as she tried to keep her eyes open. Reminding me of back in the cabin, before all of this.

I wondered if it was because she was scared I would abandon her in her sleep. Considering what she'd been through, it didn't surprise me.

"Sleep, beautiful. I promise I'll be right here when you wake up." I reassured her.

The lids drooped and I watched the muscles in her face slacken. She nestled into me a little more and I knew she was asleep.

As I looked into the face of the most important person in the universe, my reason for breathing, the reason my heart beat in my chest, the reason I still phased and would continue to phase for as long as she lived, I made a vow.

"I would destroy entire civilisations to keep you safe Renesmee. I'd die a million deaths and suffer every pain imaginable before I allowed you to be hurt. I'll kill anyone and everyone I have to in order to make sure nobody ever takes you from me again."

I pulled her just a bit closer before allowing my own lids to close.

***

I had planned to ask her so many questions when she awoke. I didn't know where she had been for the last three weeks – had she been with her kidnappers? If so then why would they have let her go, no once but twice? And if she was with her kidnappers, why would she have gone back to them willingly after the first time I saw her in the woods?

I wanted to know exactly what she knew about this place.

Instead I awoke with a start as I felt Ness wake next to me. Something was wrong.

"What is it?" I asked without thinking. The words were muffled by my lingering sleep but I shook it off immediately when I saw her face.

She was gonna bolt.

I tried to grab hold of her but she was too fast, moving in a blur out of my reach. I waited for her to run but instead her eyes darted around us before coming back to mine as she placed a finger to her perfect cherry lips.

Someone was here.

I cursed myself for not being the first to wake, for not being the first to my feet and for yet again doing a piss poor job of protecting the most important person in the universe.

I surged to my feet, fury pulsing through me. I could feel my form on the verge of change, my anger was almost too much to control but I managed it. I knew I had to stay in human form in case I needed arms and legs but I kept the change close in case I needed teeth and claws more.

It was so dark that even with my enhanced vision I could barely make out the trees. A regular human wouldn't have been able to see a hand in front of their face.

I stopped breathing and moving, not even daring to blink as my hyped senses struggled to find the danger.

There. Movement caught my eyes as the accompanying rustle hit my ears, I squinted as I tried to make out the source.

A flash of red shone just as a milky white blur darted in front of me. My gaze shot down to see Renesmee stood there, her back against my chest, which suddenly ached with a white hot pain.

She felt weird, like all her muscles had turned to stone.

My arms twitched, in preparation to hurl us both to the ground, or perhaps shield her with my body but she turned before I could do anything more. I was still ready to Phase at a moment's notice.

I smelled the wound before I saw it. The coppery smell of her blood, infused with the bleachy smell of the venom hit my nostrils.

My brain then point blank refused to process what my eyes saw. A ton of blood. I knew it was all hers because it was lighter than a human's, a rosy pink colour that blossomed like some sort of horrific Rorschach inkblot.

The wound itself looked like it had been made with a cookie cutter. It was a perfect hole. There was no loose tissue hanging or stuff dangling out, it was like her skin and muscle and tissue and bone had just evaporated into nothing.

Words could never describe the utterly desolate hollow feeling that took over at that point. My stomach plummeted through the floor and the most acute fear I have ever felt in my entire life had me in a death grip.

Then she did something that made my heart break.

She looked straight at me with childlike fear and confusion clouding her chocolate eyes and for just a micro second I was back in the Hoh rainforest, with the snow under my paws and a myriad of hooded figures gliding towards me. I remember looking into Bella's eyes and seeing Ness in the reflection as I felt her tiny fists clench the hollow guard hairs around my shoulders. Her face had been the same then – fear and confusion.

I hurtled back to the present as she said my name, just once, before she fell.

I dropped to my knees with her, simultaneously encasing her in my arms and pulling her to me so that her torso ended up being supported by my folded knees.

I screamed her name over and over again as her rosy blood poured from her wound. It pulsed with her faint heartbeat. Her body tried to heal, I could see the tissue trying feebly to knit back together but the wound was too much.

I knew immediately what I had to do, what she had to do.

Drink.

My body was still on the precipice of change and the stress was pushing me further. My body wanted to do what it normally did when adrenaline coursed so furiously through me. My wolf was so close to the surface, aching for the chance to defend his mate.

I forced it back, quashing the heat by allowing stone cold fear to grip me.

I pulled her bottom jaw down and pushed my wrist to her mouth but she seemed to fight against me unconsciously. Her eyelids fluttered and she turned her head to the side with a groan.

"You need this, don't fight it." I told her as I moved her head back in place with my other hand.

Her fluttered more, as though she was coming around again and struggling to open her eyes.

They closed again. The effort was obviously becoming too much. I swallowed a lump in my throat that felt like a golf ball.

I was so terrified of losing her. How could I have let this happen? There was no forgiveness in the world for me now. If we made it out of this alive, Edward was going to kill me...if Bella didn't get there first.

But that didn't matter if she died. If she died I knew for solid fact I would die with her. Our fates were intertwined.

NO! I wouldn't let it happen. If anyone died this night it would be me and it would be because I gave every last drop of my blood to her.

I took control again, screaming at her in order to wake her again.

"Don't you DARE die on me!" I commanded as I pushed my wrist towards her mouth again.

Her eyes seemed to look through me when she opened them again and for just a second a little smile played at the corners of her mouth.

Her eyes began to roll back.

"DRINK!" I shouted, pushing my wrist forward again.

A little life came back to her, but of course it was just enough to make it pretty clear she had no intention of taking my blood.

"Goddammit Ness, this isn't the time to get all righteous! Drink right now before I shove my entire arm down your fucking throat!!"

I was screaming myself hoarse. I would have been shaking her too but she looked so frail lying there on my thighs and impossibly she looked even paler than normal.

She looked dead.

A fresh wave of terror washed over my body, threatening to tear me apart.

I slipped a hand under the back of her head and another between her shoulder blades and lifted her up to me. I angled her head and smashed it into my neck, aiming her mouth directly over my pulsing artery.

I felt her teeth slice through the delicate skin there and crushed her into me even more, waiting for the sound of her swallow.

_There_.

Her teeth bit down harder, then released as my blood flowed freely into her rosebud mouth. I felt my skin knit, that familiar itchiness.

She bit again, and again, and again.

Minutes, or perhaps months passed as I gave my life to her on the forest floor.

She could take as much as she needed, as much as she wanted. I had known from the moment I imprinted on her that I would die for her.

I began to feel dizzy as she began to drink faster than I could replenish.

I relaxed, feeling a familiar heat begin to claim me.

Then tensed as I realised what was happening.

I placed a hand on her chest and felt her right breast, soft yet firm at the same time.

She had healed.

I began to pant with the strain of holding back my Change, it was a lot harder with the blood loss.

There was no way I could phase with her still attached to me, I had no idea what it could do to her. There was a chance it could obliterate her.

Panic began to rise, which didn't help.

"Baby, you're OK now. You've taken enough." I told her in the calmest voice I could manage.

I had hoped she would listen, that she would acknowledge and release. But of course she ignored me. lifted an arm, snaked her fingers along my scalp and then rammed my neck further into her jaws.

The blood frenzy had her.

I tried pleading "Nessie, please you have to stop now."

She bit again, drank more. I didn't have much left and my body was taking control.

I tried again but the words were becoming much harder to form. "Ness, you have to stop."

No joy. Tremors were beginning to wrack my body, I was truly on the precipice of phasing.

I considered momentarily just ripping her off me and flinging her as far as I could manage, but then realised I had about as much strength as a kitten.

All I had was words. I had to try to warn her, to bring her mind out of wherever it went when she drank.

"Renesmee, you have to get away from me. You have to stop, I'm going to....." was all I managed to get out before she lifted an arm, snaked her fingers along my scalp and then rammed my neck further into her jaws.

With her hand on me I got a glimpse of where she was.

It was carnal and beautiful, the rapture of having an unbearable thirst truly sated. She was a natural predator doing what natural predators do. How could I have ever dreamed of pulling her from this place?

Then I remembered that if I didn't, I was going to kill her.

"Ness, I'm gonna Phase!" I warned, one last time before my wolf broke through the surface of my very skin and took control in an explosion of heat, fur, teeth, claws and muscle.

I heard a massive crash come from somewhere, then the telltale creak and crunch as what must have been a pretty huge tree hit the ground.

I lay on my belly, panting. My claws extended and dug into the dirt underneath me. I couldn't move, I could only lie there as my body tried to recuperate.

My head felt about three times too small for my brain and I think I must have blacked out, I don't know how long for.

Her voice brought me back to reality as she called my name in the impenetrable darkness.

I whined back, so relieved to hear her sweet voice even if it was marred by panic.

My phasing hadn't killed her.

I heard her stumble and forced my body forwards, I needed to get to her, she needed me. I was still whining, I couldn't stop myself.

We were both alive!

Suddenly she was there, kneeling next to me and running her hands through my thick winter coat. It felt wonderful as they lingered around my neck.

Her fingers found my muzzle and I licked, wanting to taste her, to make sure she was real, to let her know that she didn't have to worry about me. I would be fine as long as she was.

We locked eyes for a moment and I realised that I could have lost her, that I could have killed her. In her eyes I saw defiance – she was telling me with a simple look that she was mega pissed about what I had done.

_That's my girl_, I thought as I allowed my eyes to close.

***

**Well I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it! **

**I have to say that I do love Jacob chapters.**

**Thanks from the bottom of my heart to everyone who has reviewed so far – you totally freakin' rock!!**

**For some reason the links to reply don't seem to work but I did plan on thanking you awesome individuals via pm.**

**Reviews honestly do encourage me to update more frequently so if you have anything at all to say about what you've just read then please take the time to share it.**

**Take care and keep reading,**

**Altea**


	16. Chapter 16

**I am not Stephenie Meyer. I do not own the rights to the Twilight Saga. No copyright infringement intended.**

I was lost in an unknown forest, so thirsty my throat felt as though it would crack. I moved through the trees smoothly, following the sound of voices.

As I passed the thick trunks of ancient trees the voices grew louder, furiously chattering.

My thirst was building and building. I moved my legs faster in eager anticipation of reaching the voices, knowing that they would somehow lead to the quenching of my thirst.

Finally I reached a clearing, only to find that it was not voices I had heard, but a river moving swiftly over and around large, smooth rocks that stood out from the riverbed.

I crouched down on the bank and cupped my hands to dip into the water, only to find that the river was not water, but blood.

I stared at the bloodcourse, which was not a ruby red as you might imagine, but almost black. The smell was metallic and mouth watering.

I stared into the depths and saw movement, there seemed to be images travelling with the current.

The liquid carried my memories with it. I watched them swirl and undulate before me, showing glimpses of my younger self, events of importance and simple fleeting moments.

Thirst forgotten, I sat mesmerised by the treasures of my mind. I leaned forwards, my face getting closer and closer to the surface, my hair spilled over my shoulders and dipped into the blood.

Closer still, I leaned until suddenly I found myself toppling in. The current sucked me under immediately and I felt a burst of panic as I struggled to get to the surface.

I fought with all my strength against the torrent but I was lost, I didn't even know where the surface was any more.

My lungs began to burn as I thrashed wildly, my clawed hands raking through the liquid and finding nothing.

A voice rang out, a voice so pure and wonderful that I relaxed immediately "Don't struggle baby." She told me "It's ok, everything will be ok."

Suddenly I didn't need breath, I wasn't immersed in blood any more. I was simply surrounded by emptiness, except for the presence of one other.

I found her without looking, I knew her smell, I could even pick out that little mind glimmer of hers from a crowd of millions.

She wrapped her arms around me and whispered soothing words into my hair in a voice I'd all but forgotten.

It was the voice I'd heard when I was in that dark, warm place. The voice that had told me when I was scared and alone that I was unequivocally loved.

It was her human voice.

I felt tears roll down my cheeks as I repeated the same word over and over "Momma, Momma, Momma."

"Shhhh my little Hummingbird heart. Tell me what's wrong." She soothed.

"I'm so lost, everything is upside down." I sobbed.

"You can't stay here sweetheart."

"I'm scared to wake up." I whispered.

"I know, but he needs you and you need to find your way back home. You can't do that if you hide here with me." She told me gently.

_He needs me. Jacob needs me. Jake!_

My eyes snapped open. I was immediately alert and drinking in my surroundings.

I was wearing those foul paper pyjamas, I was lying on a single bed, covered in linen that had a perilously low thread count. There was a human in the room with me. It wasn't Jacob. This one was female. She smelled like wildflowers. I could hear her blood pumping through her veins, creating a delicious harmony with the rhythmic breathing of her sleep.

I turned to face Maya as quietly as I could, wincing when the sheets rustled like newspaper. She didn't stir.

I racked my brain trying to work out how I'd gotten from outside in those woods, back to the same old hospital bed I'd woken up in almost a month ago.

There had been a burst of red light aiming for Jake. I protected him. It hurt.

He fed me. I healed. He phased. I blacked out. There was no more.

I knew I was back in The Hub, I could smell it. I listened past Maya's teasing heartbeat and strained my ears in the direction of the door

Nothing.

_Jake._

I had to find him.

**Well it's been forever since I last posted but I'm back writing again.**

**Hope you enjoyed this chapter and review.**

**Next one to follow soon.**


	17. Chapter 17

I closed my eyes and slowed my breathing, focussing my energy inwards, finding that internal compass that always told me where Jacob was.

He was close.

I felt a slight ache in my leg and chest along with a dull pulsing in my left arm.

_Pain, oh god, he's in pain!_

Urgency caused my stomach to squirm and my muscles bunched, urging me to spring into action.

I slid from the bed and padded towards the door but paused when I heard the heartbeat of another.

It was familiar, a slower thump accompanied by shuffling feet and the telltale squeak of rubber soles.

"Oh my god you're awake!"

I spun to see Maya staring at me with bugged hazel eyes, under which rested massive dark circles, suggesting very little sleep.

_Moment of truth, play amnesia girl or be honest. Think, think think!_

"Wha...what happened?" I asked, trying to make myself sound as spaced out as possible.

"It was so bad, you were like, hypnotised to go out or some shit like that, totally fucked up my tree by the way, and then some asshole sent by Humber attacked you or something but you attacked it back and...and..." Her voice started to shake "And Tobin and Torrin went out to help you..."

She wiped her eyes on the back of her sleeve before whispering "It killed Torrin... it ripped her to shreds but we got it, we got that _fuck_."

I stopped breathing.

_No, no, no he was alive, I could _feel_ it_.

Trying to keep my voice as level as possible I asked "Where is h...it?"

Maya seemed to draw herself up before telling me he was in a holding cell on the floor below.

"Take me" I checked myself and added a "please" for good measure.

He was lying, naked and vulnerable on the floor of what looked like a giant metal box with a glass wall facing outward. His eyes were closed and his mouth pulled down at the corners and he had a drip attached to his left arm, explaining the dull throb I had felt. They were keeping him unconscious, drugging him.

Not only were the two massive brothers looming over him but there were also two large, advanced looking guns trained on him from the ceiling.

Every cell in my body screamed to go to him and fighting the urge was like fighting to pull two of the strongest magnets in the world apart.

But the spectacular control inherited from my father came into play and I fought the feeling with herculean effort.

Crane stood in front of a massive control panel but his eyes were fixed on Jake.

"He may look harmless now, but this man can change into a savage beast capable of the most heinous deeds."

I spared the man a microscopic amount of my focus and flicked my eyes in his direction.

"He hasn't hurt anyone and he wasn't sent by Humber. Please release him and we can explain everything." I said through gritted, razor teeth.

I was trying to keep my voice calm but seeing Jake surrounded by so much danger was causing my vocal chords to quiver.

Crane's eyebrows shot up about three inches on his forehead. If I hadn't been in the situation I was, I probably would have found it funny.

"I'm so sorry Vanessa but your mind is not exactly reliable at this point in time and I have rather damning evidence that says that….man in there not only murdered one of my team in cold blood but also sexually attacked you."

I could feel the beginnings of anger boiling up inside me and my focus slipped momentarily. I let gravity pull me just an inch closer to Jake.

There was a sharp pain in my wrist that brought my focus back and I froze.

I could move fast, very, very fast, but I wasn't certain that a definite move towards Jake wouldn't trigger something that could kill him before I got there. This world was full of technology that I knew nothing about and I couldn't put Jake's life to chance. Well, really it was both our lives, I couldn't even remember the moment I'd made the decision that if Jacob Black left the world of the living, I would follow him without a second thought.

"Firstly, he did not sexually attack me, it was 100% consensual. Secondly, my name is not Vanessa. It is Renesmee Carlie Cullen, soon to be Renesmee Carlie Cullen-Black. I can assure you that there is absolutely nothing wrong with my mind. Please release him and allow us to leave."

Something dark flickered across Crane's face but it was gone in an instant.

"You remember who you are? Well that's wonderful _Renesmee_...nevertheless I cannot allow that thing in there to leave."

Cold bloomed in the pit of my stomach as the man who had previously represented safety suddenly turned into something horrible.

His eyes were no longer soft, leafy green; they had turned to hard emerald with flecks of steel. The smile lines at the corners of his eyes and mouth turned into sneer lines and that smell wasn't just cloyingly sweet, it had a very clear undertone of carrion. I cringed inwardly.

I thought of the flowers Maya had shown me, the ones that smelled a certain way to attract their prey.

"Please, Humber must have taken him at the same time he took me. His name is Jacob, he's not a murderer." I pleaded.

He tilted his head to one side, eyeing me curiously as though one would an interesting species of bug, before answering.

"I have a body that disproves that and until I have solid proof he was not sent by Humber he will remain in that chamber, unconscious and guarded"

I didn't have time for this, Jake needed me.

"Look, I'm telling you there is no way he murdered Torrin, maybe Humber sent someone else to come and get us both and Torrin got in the way." I felt wretched as I spoke the words, that poor girl was dead because of me.

"As I said previously, I'm sorry but your mind is not reliable, whether you have your memories back or not I have to put the safety of everyone in this facility first. However perhaps there is a way we can get things...cleared up."

Alarm bells were ringing in my head, why couldn't this guy talk straight with me?

He took a step towards me with a hand outstretched. "Why don't you come with me?"

I automatically stepped further from his reach and closer to Jake, eyeing him warily.

My eyes flicked from him to Jake and back again.

"You are just as safe here as you always have been, Ness, we saved you remember?" He murmured.

Now I was conflicted, had these people actually done anything to harm me? I know they had Jake but if I put myself in Crane's position I could see he had good reason, he didn't understand.

I decided to acquiesce, perhaps in doing so I could explain everything and he would help us get home.

Gah! The thought of home, of everyone else who'd ever meant anything to me, caused a feeling of longing so great I almost crumpled right there. I could see their faces, marred with worry when they didn't hear from us, when we didn't return, when they would have come looking and found an empty cottage.

Would Dad think we eloped? Would mom think the Volturi had taken us? Alice would be giving herself an aneurism trying to see me. The wolves would be searching for Jake, but nobody would find us.

Right now we were stuck in an alien place with alien people that possessed technology I knew nothing about. Jake was unconscious and a murder suspect and I was our only hope of getting back to normality.

I steeled myself and moved forwards to place my hand in his. Warm honey ran through my veins and I was completely reassured I had done the right thing.

He closed my hands around his and led me out of the room.


End file.
